Fargo INC! May 2019

INTERVIEWS WITH...

BARRY BATCHELLER TAMMY MILLER DEAN BRESCIANI ED SCHAFER JOHN HOEVEN

PRESENTS A SPECIAL AUTOMATION IN AGRICULTURE ISSUE

GRAND FARM Powering the Future of Agriculture JEANNE CRAIN HOWARD DAHL JAKE JORAANSTAD KEVIN BIFFERT TIM MAHONEY

// MAY 2019

COVER STORY

ECOSYSTEM

INNOVATION PLATFORM

44

79 46 The Case for Grand Farm

63

50 What is Grand Farm? with Barry Batcheller and Brian Carrol

MAKER SPACE

81 ND Dept of Commerce

64 The Future of Farming Roundtable Discussion

UPSKILLING THE WORKFORCE

85 Erik Hardmeyer - Bank of North Dakota 88 Tammy Miller - Valley Prosperity Partnership 92 UND. President Mark Kennedy 94 Jon Godfread - ND Insurance Commissioner 98 Michael Olmstead - Plug and Play

151 153 Kevin Biffert - Fargo Automation

104 Jeanne Crain - Bremer Bank

167 168 Taya Spelhaug Microsoft

163 Chris Hawley - Chris Hawley Architects and Construction

174 Mike Derheim - Prime Digital Academy

107 NDSU President Dean Bresciani 112 Nick Horob - Harvest Profit 114 Ryan Raguse and Jake Joraanstad - Bushel

POLICY

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

122 Anthony Molzahn AegisFlow 124 Leah Olson - Dot 128 Joe Heilman - Intelligent Ag

177 32 Sponsored Content: RDO 178 Mayor Tim Mahoney - City of Fargo 182 Senator John Hoeven 186 Ed Schafer 194 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue

Follow Fargo INC! on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

10

MAY 2019

42 Sponsored Content: Auctions: The American Free Enterprise System at Work 200 Why a Strong Downtown is Good for a City's Business Community

132 Tom Spiekermeier Giant Sunflower Seed 138 Howard Dahl - Amity Technology 142 Lanny Faleide - Sat Shot 145 Joel Honeyman - Bobcat Doosan

CHECK OUT FARGOINC.COM

All our stories in one place

Business events calendar

Read all the past issues

Extra video content

editor's note

It's In North Dakota's Blood

M

y grandfather was a farmer. My grandfather's father was a farmer. My grandfather's grandfather was a farmer. His father was a farmer. I'm an editor? Like many in the upper midwest, I came from an agricultural background but have fallen off the wagon in the most metaphorical way possible.

While a good majority of us no longer work with the dirt every day, it's still in our blood.

Farmers' kids are now bankers, accountants and engineers. They are no longer on the farm but they still carry the work ethic, appreciation and attitude that came from growing up on a farm. And that's carrying over into our business community.

Like our workforce, ag runs in our business community's lifeblood too. Since the early days of North Dakota's founding and the creation of Bonanza farms, North Dakota has been responsible for the creation of many agricultural tech innovations. In the 1950s, the ag tech legacy was really planted in the ground with the creation of Bobcat and the Red River Valley never looked back.

Now with the creation of Grand Farm, that

Andrew Jason, Editorial Director

legacy of agricultural innovation is guaranteed to continue and thrive for generations to come. North Dakota is and will be an agricultural state.

In Barry Batcheller's, the President and CEO at Appareo Systems, 2018 TED talk, he talks about how John Deere Electronic Systems was born from Steiger Tractor and how that was born from Bobcat. The proverbial branches could be drawn even further out.

Like my grandfather's grandfather was a farmer, with the creation of the Grand Farm, people will look back at how ag tech companies today created other ag tech companies.

And that's what Grand Farm is about: the creation of ag innovation so North Dakota is, and forever will be, an agricultural state.

Cheers, Andrew Jason, Editorial Director

Andrew@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

about us

This magazine isn't for corporate America.

A

t Fargo INC!, we're all about small business. Our core demographic is businesses with 2-40 employees.

These companies are often owned by people who have a real passion, no MBA and rarely have a business background. If that's one of you, we know what you're going through. That's why we created this magazine for you. And that's why we're mailing this magazine to every business in North Dakota with 2-40 employees.

We're also excited to produce an agriculture issue for the first time ever. Ag is and will always be the heart of North Dakota's economy and the work that's being done to make North Dakota a pillar in the ag tech industry is exciting. While this magazine is jam-packed with lots of information, we also want to inspire and excite you. How can you get involved in the action of Grand Farm? You might be the next Barry Batcheller or Howard Dahl who helps continues the long legacy of ag tech in North Dakota.

If we missed something, let us know. What do you think about Grand Farm? Are you excited about it? Are you nervous? If you think this content is important and you want more of it, please let us know by emailing us at FargoInc@SpotlightMediaFargo.com or by hitting us up on social media.

Cheers, Andrew Jason Editorial Director

About Fargo INC! Fargo INC! is a monthly business magazine produced by Spotlight Media that covers all things business in the FargoMoorhead area. Each month, it covers a variety of topics, ranging from entrepreneurship and startups to business resources and general economic development. All of this coverage is presented in an engaging, fun and positive manner. A significant percentage of the magazines are mailed directly to business leaders across the Fargo metro.

16

MAY 2019

FARGOINC.COM

FACEBOOK.COM/FARGOBUSINESS

@FARGOINCMAG

FOLLOW US ON LINKEDIN

about us

What we have in the works Because of the feedback we've heard, we're excited to announce that we will be experimenting with going statewide this year. If you are interested in seeing Fargo INC! mailed throughout the state, let us know by emailing FargoInc@SpotlightMediaFargo.com.

Check out what we have in the works for the next couple of months

JULY

SEPTEMBER

How To Manage Your Business' Money

Building North Dakota

Manufacturing and Labor in North Dakota

Fargo INC! continues to go statewide as we look at financing in North Dakota. With the only state-owned bank in the country, we’ll look at what financing options are available in North Dakota, answer some common financing questions from business owners like, “Should I buy or lease?” and what you need to know to understand the numbers in your business.

This month, we'll look at construction, real estate, engineering, architecture and city planning in North Dakota. We will educate business owners about the resources on how to build, buy or lease a new office space along with other topics.

How does manufacturing affect North Dakota’s economy? With so many manufacturing companies in the state, we’ll look at some of them and the work they’re doing. We will also meet several of these businesses that are making a difference on a global scale.

Topics covered Commercial real estate Construction Engineering Architecture City planning

Topics covered Workforce Industrial Equipment and tech Shipping and logistics Global companies in North Dakota

Topics covered Bank loans Grants and programs Leasing Venture capital Investors ESOPs Financial strategy Financial reporting Accounting

18

AUGUST

MAY 2019

Special jobs and recruiting/directory guide

We mean BUSINESS.

For over 100 years, Chevrolet has partnered with business owners like YOU to do whatever it takes to get the job done. With the Industry's most comprehensive lineup, you'll ďŹ nd the right Chevrolet trucks, vans, SUVs, crossovers and cars to help your business run more eďŹƒciently.

701.663.9851

EDITORIAL BOARD We at Fargo INC! want to make sure our content is unbiased and reflects the FMWF business community. That's why we meet regularly with our six-member editorial board to discuss local business issues and trends and ensure we are living up to our core values.

STEVE DUSEK

JOHN MACHACEK

Dakota Business Lending

Greater FM Economic Development Corporation

President & CEO

In lieu of this month’s issue of Fargo INC, I spent some time reflecting upon those who work in the agriculture industry and one word continually caught my attention: cultivate. According to Dictionary.com, to cultivate means “to promote the growth or development of; to foster.”

This starts with a healthy environment. Without providing a seed with the proper nutrients and space it needs to grow, it can go nowhere. The plant must also be surrounded by other plants that welcome and encourage its growth. If this nurturing environment does not exist, it cannot grow and become the plant it is meant to be.

This is exactly what Dakota Business Lending had in mind when we opened our new headquarter office in 2018. Our facility was designed with the intention of providing the proper nutrients and space necessary for our employees to learn and grow into their greatest potential. We invite you to come in – free of charge – utilize our space, and continue to grow your business like you helped grow ours. Contact us today to reserve our space: 701-293-8892

22

MAY 2019

Chief Innovation Officer

I was excited to see this month's magazine feature of the business of agriculture. I am even more excited thinking about what lies ahead for our region and the upper Midwest in AgTech. We are already the breadbasket for the world and investing in ag technology should only enhance that further.

A tip of my hat to Emerging Prairie for instigating the Grand Farm initiative and pulling in many key private and public partners that have been working behind the scenes. As this progresses and evolves, more collaborative and strategic partnerships will be important.

Our part of the country is proving that we collaborate well. You add that genuineness and intentionality with our longtime agricultural strength and increasingly innovative tech capacity - and I believe you have a recipe for making our region the AgTech capital of the world.

As an economic developer and connector, I'm ready to do my part to add in any ingredients to make this happen. I think there will be a part of many of us in this. Let's get ready for it.

GREGORY WALD

CRAIG WHITNEY

Moore Engineering, Inc.

FMWF Chamber of Commerce

Communications Manager

A few months ago, I joined a service organization. After being an Optimist in Bismarck years ago, I decided to join the Fargo Kiwanis. Now, it's a highlight of my weekly routine.

Here’s a not-so-secret about the Kiwanis: we sing at our meetings (in addition to learning something). Some weeks the singing is better than others, but we always get through it.

However it turns out, it’s a joy because of the camaraderie and generosity of spirit the group holds dear.

Is it time for you to consider a service organization like Sertoma, Optimist, Rotary, Kiwanis or Lions? If you’re interested, do your homework and find one that fits you and what you want from the experience.

If you go in with your own generosity of spirit and a true commitment to service and community, it may just turn into a highlight of your routine, too.

President and CEO

As this issue of the magazine celebrates North Dakota’s rich contributions to the agriculture industry, we want to give a nod to the producers, farmers and suppliers that keep this major economic engine running in our community, state and nation. Because we recognize the important role ag plays in business here, we want to mention The Chamber’s Agribusiness committee. Chaired

by Nany Johnson of the North Dakota Soybeans Growers Association, the committee serves as a collective voice of businesses and leaders to represent agriculture as a key industry in the metro and Red River Valley. The group advocates at all levels of government when needed and educates to spread awareness of the impact of agriculture throughout the region. Interested in joining?

We’re open to involvement from all employees of Chamber member organizations!

KRISTI HUBER President

TIM BEATON

Executive Director

United Way of Cass-Clay

FM Area Foundation

Agriculture is a significant part of the foundation of our community.

Businesses that are connected to agriculture are also some of our most generous. In our Cass-Clay community, nine of the 2019 United Way Top 50 most generous companies have deep roots in supporting not only successful farming operations, but also supporting United Way’s innovative work to help individuals and families succeed.

North Dakota is a wonderful place to call home. We want to ensure the communities we love prosper now and into the future.

One powerful way you can support our community is to understand the issues at a deeper level. Understanding builds empathy and empathy builds stronger communities for all of us. One of our upcoming events is A Day in the Life: A Perspective on Poverty on May 23. This event is an interactive and immersive experience that depicts real-life scenarios faced by many of the local families living in poverty who are sometimes one paycheck away from homelessness or crisis.

Participating in this simulation has been a game-changer for the businesses that have had their employees attend.

You can find more information and register at unitedwaycassclay. org.

You can ensure your charitable dollars stay in North Dakota by creating or giving to a permanently endowed fund.

Many people think donations need to be cash, but there are many options for giving, especially for those in agriculture.

Donations of land, crops or other commodities may qualify for the North Dakota Charitable Income Tax Credit, a 40 percent tax credit on gifts of $5,000 or more, when given to a qualified endowment of a qualified North Dakota charitable organization.

Not only do you receive a tax credit, but you help make a lasting difference for your favorite charities.

Learn more about the North Dakota Charitable Income Tax Credit or how to set up an endowment to benefit the causes you care about by contacting the FM Area Foundation at 701-234-0756 or email Greg Diehl at greg@ areafoundation.org.

May 2019

Volume 4 Issue 5

Fargo INC! is published 12 times a year and is available at area businesses and online at FargoInc.com.

Publisher Chief Operations Officer

EDITORIAL

Editorial Director Art Director

Graphic Designer

Director of Photography

Mike Dragosavich

Drago@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Steve Kruse Andrew Jason

Andrew@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Sarah Geiger Sarah Stauner Hillary Ehlen

Photography@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Photography

J. Alan Paul Photography

Contributors

Andrew Jason, Adrienne Olson, Chris Hawley, Jeanne Crain

INTERACTIVE

Business Development Manager

Creative Director Digital Marketing Strategist Videographer Client Relations Administrator Executive Sales Assistant

ADVERTISING

Senior Sales Executive Sales Executives

jesse@jalanpaul.com

Nick Schommer

nickschommer@spotlightmediafargo.com

Simon Andrys Tommy Uhlir Patrick Thompson Alex Kizima Kellen Feeney Paul Hoefer

Paul@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Neil Keltgen

Neil@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Jeniffer Gades

FargoINC@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Ella Harrison

Ella@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Ross Uglem

Ross@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Zach Olson

Zach@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Client Relations Administrators

ADMINISTRATION VP of Human Resources

Office Manager

DISTRIBUTION Delivery

Jenny Johnson, Gigi McColm

clientrelations@spotlightmediafargo.com

Colleen Dreyer Wendy Kalbrener Bruce Crummy, John Stuber, Craig Sheets

Special thanks to Greg Tehven, Brian Carroll and the entire Emerging Prairie team for their hard work in making North Dakota so special.

Kyle Barlow was spelled incorrectly in the April Fargo INC! story "Is your business owner-dependent, multigenerational or marketable.

Fargo INC! is published by Spotlight Media LLC, Copyright 2019 Fargo INC! & FargoInc.com. All rights reserved. No parts of this magazine may be reproduced or distributed without written permission of Fargo INC!, and Spotlight Media LLC, is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to or reliance on such information. Spotlight Media LLC, accepts no liability for the accuracy of statements made by the advertisers.

Spotlight Media, LLC 15 Broadway N, Suite 500 Fargo, ND 58102 Info@SpotlightMediaFargo.com ADVERTISING: 701-478-SPOT (7768)

MEET THE TEAM

SARAH

NICK

MIKE

STEVE

SIMON

PATRICK

NEIL

TOMMY

COLLEEN

JENNIFER

ANDREW

KELLEN

ALEX

ALEXANDRA

JENNY

WENDY

NOLAN

ROSS

PAUL

ZACH

BRUCE

JOHN

JENNY

JESSE

CRAIG

SARAH

HILLARY

Learn more about us at SpotlightMediaFargo.com

CHECK OUT SPOTLIGHT MEDIA'S OTHER PUBLICATIONS

It takes a certain eye to see the potential in certain properties. This month we are celebrating homes that have undergone successful flips. Move over Chip and Joanna, the Red River Valley just might be on its way to becoming the next Waco.

Summer welcomes the opportunity to get away from Fargo-Moorhead for a few days.

We worked with city chambers to come up with the best ways to spend 48 hours in various lakes country cities.

Follow along as we plan out perfect weekend getaways, and don't forget to pack your sunscreen!

Two of the nation's best throwers, seniors Payton Otterdahl and Maddy Nilles share a special relationship away from the throwing cages. Otterdahl is NDSU's first Division I track & field national champion and Nilles was an AllAmerican in the weight throw this indoor season. We go behind the scenes with this Bison power couple and learn how they make each other great inside and outside of the throwing cage.

SPONSORED CONTENT

32

MAY 2019

SPONSORED CONTENT

RDO EQUIPMENT CO. PUTS PRECISION

AGRICULTURE TECHNOLOGY INTO ACTION

W

hen thinking about autonomous farming, what comes to mind?

While some may envision a big, driverless tractor, others might imagine drones swarming above farm fields.

Most often, visions of an autonomous farm have one thing in common: the absence of people. RDO Equipment Co., a 75+-store network of equipment dealerships, including eight John Deere agriculturefocused stores in the Red River Valley, has a different idea.

“Autonomous farming can’t exist without people; people who understand both the aspects

of precision technology and crop production,” Joel Kaczynski, Product Specialist Manager at RDO Equipment Co., explains. “As we move toward autonomous farming, people aren’t going away, they become even more crucial.”

Joel and the precision ag team at RDO Equipment Co. are committed to leadership in the field of precision agriculture technology and agronomy.

They share a vision for the future of autonomous farming that combines the advantages offered by precision agriculture technology with the element that makes the farming community special – people.

And they’re bringing that vision to life in a unique way right here in the Red River Valley.

FARGOINC.COM

33

SPONSORED CONTENT

Want to see more about the Land Lab? Watch the video at RDOequipment.com/landlab

Linked to the Land Founded by sixth-generation farmer, Ronald D. Offutt, RDO Equipment Co. has deep agricultural roots. As one of the world’s largest John Deere agriculture equipment dealers, it’s also familiar with the opportunities that come with precision agriculture technology.

In early 2018, RDO Equipment Co. was presented an opportunity that allowed the team to put autonomous farming concepts into practice in a real-life setting, while providing a unique learning experience for students at the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) in Wahpeton, N.D. Ninety one acres of land was donated to the school for three years, with the intent of being a “land lab.” Named after land donors, Mary Kosel and Linda Patterson, the Kosel Family Agriculture Land Lab is a place 34

MAY 2019

where students can get out of the classroom – get their hands dirty, get their boots on the ground and get up-close with the precision agriculture technology and equipment that’s the future of the industry.

After submitting a proposal to participate in the project, RDO Equipment Co. was chosen to partner with NDSCS on the Land Lab and given approximately 70 acres of the land to create a place for research, testing and student-focused learning.

Creating Opportunities for the Future Just as RDO Equipment Co. is no stranger to advancing the farming profession through the sale and support of equipment and technology, the company is long-committed to the future of the equipment industry and providing real-world experience for students.

Through its Access Your Future (AYF) internship program, a partnership with John Deere’s diesel technician program at colleges and universities across the country, students interested in a heavy equipment career can get hands-on, mentored work experience with equipment in a service department setting.

The AYF program also includes paths for those interested in a career in sales or parts at a store – which is how Tony Kramer, Product Specialist Supervisor, found his way to the company.

“I had the opportunity to join the AYF program as a sales intern,” he said. “That was almost 10 years ago and, since then, I’ve enjoyed opportunities to grow within the company to where I am today.”

Tony leads a team of precision agriculture equipment experts so it only seemed fitting for him to

SPONSORED CONTENT

FARM INDUSTRY EMPLOYMENT VS. NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS 1,250,000

FARM INDUSTRY EMPLOYMENT

1,200,000

285,000,000

1,150,000 1,100,000

275,000,000

1,050,000

265,000,000

1,000,000

255,000,000

950,000

245,000,000

900,000

OVERALL NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT

295,000,000

235,000,000

850,000

225,000,000

800,000 2006 FARM INDUSTRY

PROJECTIONS Between the years 2016 to 2026, the national workforce is projected to grow 8.13% while the Farming Industry has a lower projected workforce growth of 1.7%. With fewer workers entering the farm

2016

2026

EMPLOYEES NATIONAL

industry compared to the overall average, an increase in use of precision agriculture technology and autonomous farming techniques are needed to boost food production to meet the needs of a growing world population. Educational

opportunities for students, like those at the Land Lab, are crucial to equip future farmers with the knowledge needed to successfully implement precision agriculture strategies.

PROJECTED JOB GROWTH 2016-2026

Farm Industry 1.7% National Average 8.13%

SOURCE: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS Statistics by Industy, Growth FARGOINC.COM

35

SPONSORED CONTENT

The Faces of the Land Lab

Meet Tony “The longer I work for RDO, the more passionate I become about agriculture. I grew up in a farming family and worked on the farm my entire childhood. When I moved to the Fargo-Moorhead area for college, my father and his four brothers were running the farm, so I wasn’t sure where my path was headed. Joining RDO, I found the opportunity to fulfill my passion for agriculture through a support perspective. I may not be growing the crop, but I’m doing my part to feed, fuel and clothe the world. I truly believe I’m given the opportunity to change the world through the agriculture industry because of what we do in the RDO organization and what I do in my position.”

Meet Jacob “Today’s youth is inundated with technology – and that’s not a bad thing. The farmer or agronomist of the future isn’t reserved to only the kid who grew up on a farm, it’s going to be the kid who’s interested in technology or math and I think that’s exciting. I may not have grown up on a farm, but I have farming and equipment in my family, and getting hands-on experience at college, that really hooked me into the world of agriculture. I believe precision agriculture is going to be that hook for today’s kids, the ones interested in technology and what pushes them to go all-in on agriculture and make it their career.”

Meet Joel “Giving back and creating opportunities for the next generation of farmers is important to me. When I attended college 25 years ago, it was just the beginning of precision agriculture. And now, so much of what we have today is built on that, those early innovations. I knew early on in my schooling that I was going to pursue a career in the agriculture industry and I hope to create that same excitement and interest for students today, get them on that path to go deeper into the ag profession through new opportunities with technology.”

36

MAY 2019

SPONSORED CONTENT

Quick Facts About the RDO Team take a large leadership role at the Land Lab – one which he was eager to accept, both to expand his knowledge, and to share knowledge with the Land Lab’s key audience: students.

The Land Lab created an exciting opportunity for RDO Equipment Co. to enhance its partnership with NDSCS and provide a real-world experience for students pursuing a career either working on the farm or in the industry as a trusted advisor, like an agronomist or soil health specialist.

RDO Equipment Co. provided equipment, people and time to the Land Lab. Joel, Tony and RDO Equipment Co. Agronomist, Jacob Maurer, formed the team leading the project and began planning.

Welcome to the Land Lab To get started on what this nontraditional “classroom” looked like for students, the team began with the basics.

“We needed to plant a crop, care for a crop and harvest a crop,” Tony said. “But we also wanted to implement some of the autonomous farming concepts being used today.”

Jacob further explained that the team drew inspiration from several areas, most notable, RDO Equipment Co.’s own customers.

The team regularly conducts field trials, or small research studies, with customers and felt the Land Lab could be used in a similar way.

The team also worked with several partners to shape the Land Lab. Kelsey Van Overbeke, an Agronomist with Farmer’s Union Oil of Southern Valley worked with the RDO team to provide all the crop inputs, including crop protection, nutrition, and seed. This offered another opportunity to demonstrate how precision agriculture technology can help with cost-effective decisions on the farm.

“Gathering UAV imagery, tissue tests, NDVI imagery, yield maps and other precision data the first year tied with varied rates of nutrients have given the students valuable data to analyze for future decisionmaking and cost analysis,” Kelsey explained.

Finally, the Land Lab’s direction wouldn’t be complete without partnership with the college.

NDSCS professors looked forward to opportunities for students to learn outside of the classroom.

“Seeing the technology and equipment operate before their eyes, combined with the expertise of Jacob and Tony leading discussions, ties it all together and creates a dynamic opportunity for our students,” Craig Zimprich, Associate Professor and Chair of the Agriculture Department at NDSCS, said.

With all input considered, the team chose to divide the Land Lab’s acres into two fields, creating opportunity for

Tony is host of RDO Equipment Co.’s Agriculture Technology Podcast. Tune in every other week to hear Tony talk with professionals about precision technology, autonomous farming, and issues affecting the agriculture industry. Visit RDOequipment.com/more/podcasts to find all episodes.

Prior to joining RDO Equipment Co., Jacob was a precision ag curriculum specialist at Highland Community College in Wamego, KS and an extension agent at North Dakota State University. He continues to educate students, fellow agronomists and industry leaders through various speaking engagements and as a regular contributor to PrecisionAg and CropLife magazines and websites.

Joel holds two agriculture accreditations: the Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) and Precision Ag Specialty Certification (PASp). While the industry doesn’t require these, Joel proactively pursued them to stay on top of rapidly-growing precision agriculture opportunities, and expand his knowledge skills to better understand the challenges and needs of grower customers.

comparison trials. The land had grown soybeans the past four seasons. With the interest in seeing a full season of crop and equipment data from something new, two new crops were selected for year one: wheat and corn.

RDO Equipment Co. kicked off season one at the Land Lab with planting in May of 2018.

FARGOINC.COM

37

SPONSORED CONTENT ent.com

rdoequipm

Interested in learning more about the equipment and technology used year one at the Land Lab? Read Jacob’s article, Putting Advice Into Action – A Full-Season Field Trial at RDOequipment.com/landlab

Taking Technology to the Field Early on, the RDO team encouraged students to use the Land Lab in any way they saw fit.

“We reminded them, this is your field,” Tony said. “Come out, walk around, use this as your playground.”

Field days and events were organized to weave the experience into the students’ lives. Additionally, NDSCS seized opportunities to bring subject matter to life.

Anissa Hoffman, Associate Professor, brought her Introduction to Soil Health class out to the Land Lab on several occasions to dig soil pits, do soil assessment labs and observe actual soil characteristics in their natural setting.

Conversely, there were opportunities to bring the

Land Lab into the classroom.

Instructor Chris Duchsherer’s Data Collection class spent a week focused on the reviewing and analyzing data in the John Deere Operations Center, a cloud-based platform for farm management.

Perhaps the biggest opportunity RDO was able to offer students was the chance to work with precision agriculture technology and equipment.

“To meet the demands of a growing global population, we can either plant more acres or increase the productivity of our existing farmland,” Joel said.

“Farmable acres are shrinking, so precision agriculture technology is how farmers will continue to feed the world.”

Joel further pointed out that one of the biggest challenges with technology adoption and using it to the fullest potential

is lack of time and resources for farmers to understand and put practices into action. His team’s focus is to know the equipment and technology inside and out, not only offering it to customers, but to help them implement and provide ongoing support so that good data-driven decisions can be made. This made their work at the Land Lab that much more important.

Learning by Doing RDO Equipment Co. used John Deere machines supplied by their own stores. The team’s first field trial, a speed trial, was done during corn planting with a DB planter equipped with ExactEmerge row units and a John Deere 8R tractor with Gen4 Command Center. The test involved planting at various speeds to see the agronomic impact on the field.

Data was collected via the Connect Mobile app for instant FARGOINC.COM

39

SPONSORED CONTENT

access to review, analyze and make changes. The data was also available instantly to students to see what was happening during the trial.

“When we do a trial, I think the misconception is that we’re hoping to see major differences,” he explained. “In this trial, we wanted to help students understand how a change in speed might affect yield.

We found there wasn’t much difference in yields compared to planter speed.”

Getting out to the field, students had the opportunity to participate in corn harvest and again see the process of working with autonomous concepts.

A new John Deere S780 combine was used, equipped with precision programs CombineAdvisor, ActiveYield and Gen4 Yield Data.

Precision agriculture-enabled equipment takes more effort to set up and adjust to ensure proper functionality in the field, something RDO’s precision ag team offers ahead of each phase in the crop cycle. Students were invited to participate in this set up prior to corn harvest.

Then, they had the opportunity to “be” in the combine cab during harvest – virtually, via iPad, through the machine’s connection via remote display access.

“There’s something special about harvest,” Jacob said with a smile. “The students were engaged, they asked questions, they got into the combine to check out the precision features.

That’s the kind of stuff they can read about in books but it’s so much more seeing it in person.”

In addition to machines on the ground, the RDO team used UAVs to fly the Land Lab’s acres and create maps used to build prescriptions for planting, 40

MAY 2019

spraying and harvesting, and monitor the crop throughout the season.

Entering year two, the team has a lot planned, including more student field days and workshops, more field trial with John Deere equipment, and even hosting events at the Land Lab for team members, customers and partners.

Connections, Colleagues and Collaboration Even with every available technology, AI and autonomous opportunity, Jacob, Joel and Tony agree: the profession of farming thrives because of people.

“We can write programs for machines to work a certain way – but a person needs to write that program, just like a person needs to look at data, analyze it and make the right decisions for his or her unique operation,” Tony said.

“Edge computing is the next big development in autonomous equipment, giving machines more ability to sense and make decisions. But there’s still that perspective only a person can have of truly seeing what’s happening in the field, watching the weather shift before their eyes and combining knowledge and instinct to make the right decisions,” Joel said.

“The connections between people are just as important as the connections to the land; it’s why I’m in the business. It’s all about the people,” Jacob said.

Follow along all season with the Land Lab at RDOequipment.com/landlab.

Visit RDOequipment.com to learn more about technology and equipment, or to find your place at RDO Equipment Co. by exploring career opportunities.

THE FUTURE OF AUTONOMOUS FARMING

TONY’S VISION “My idea of the autonomous farm of the future is on a smaller level than I think what most imagine. I see a large piece of land, with smaller machines operating within that piece; a small tractor or maybe a four-row planter. Those autonomous machines never leave the boundary of that field. There’s a “home” base in the corner, where all the machines live and go back to recharge, then they go back and keep working on their own.”

JACOB’S VISION “I see the future of autonomous farming as man and machine working together. I feel like everything perceived about autonomous eliminates the human element.

Agriculture is very people-to-people, it’s people who are passionate and people who are all-in. It’s funny, even if you’re not in it, you’re surrounded by it. You probably have a connection to it. My hope is 25 years from now, we read an article like this and can be proud of how involved we still are. Our devices and the data flowing in is helping us make better decisions, the right decisions. But we’re not just watching it all from those devices, we’re still as tied to the land as we ever were.”

JOEL’S VISION “I believe as we move towards a fully-autonomous farm, one where the fields are being managed by driverless machines, the human element becomes more crucial.

Machines will need a plan and program to operate effectively. An agronomist will still need to provide insight into the soil and other unique variables that differ from field to field. A team will be needed to monitor the machines and make sure they’re operating properly. And people will still need to manage, review and analyze data to make the best decisions.”

SPONSORED CONTENT

Auctions T

he history of auctions goes back millennia.

You can trace auctions back to as early as 500 B.C. in ancient Babylon. Over the thousands of years that followed, auctions remained just as relevant as they are today. In fact, auctions in the Red River Valley can be traced back to the early days of the state being founded and, for almost 60 years, a crucial part of the auction industry in the upper midwest has been Steffes Group.

Founded by Robert Steffes in 1960, Steffes Group is now under

42

MAY 2019

the leadership of Scott Steffes, Robert’s son. While the auction industry has changed a lot over the years as they’ve adapted to changing technology, Steffes doesn’t think the industry is going anywhere for one simple reason.

“The auction method of marketing is the ultimate expression of the American free enterprise system,” said Steffes.

“The best part about auctions, more than anything else, is one word and one word only: fair.”

Last year, their 87 employees did auctions in nine states and auctioned off nearly 35,000 acres of farmland and thousands of farm machinery and equipment lots at 365 different real estate and equipment auctions. Their footprint also extends far beyond just North Dakota. They have four offices for their employees and also have several returning registered bidders who are looking at and buying from auctions through the upper midwest.

That fairness has increased the importance of auctions in the ag industry and Steffes Group has played an important role.

“We love the ag world,” said Steffes. “That’s our forte. It seems like over the 59 years that we’ve been involved in the

BETHANY KIEDROWSKI

The American Free Enterprise System At Work

SPONSORED CONTENT Steffes Group Fast Facts • Founded in 1960 • 87 employees • 50 percent of business is online • 35,516 acres sold in 2018 • 2,457 tractors sold in 2018 • 543 combines sold in 2018 • 365 auctions last year • 210 live on site with internet bidding • 100 real estate auctions (also includes internet bidding and online auctions) • 155 timed online auctions • 4 offices • 32 representatives throughout the midwest

“We’re basically taking age-old processes and adapting them to the resources and technology that’s available to make it easier.”

steffesgroup.com

auction business, the more we try to change our spots, the more they stay the same. We’re entrenched in the ag world.

We like the people. We like the industry. We like our location.

Everything about ag is central to North Dakota.”

While their adherence to the same industry has remained the same, the one thing that has changed dramatically over the years is the technology. The auction industry is seeing a drastic change as things move online. In fact, 50 percent of Steffes Group’s business now is done online.

“There’s a metamorphosis going on in our industry,” said Steffes.

However, despite this shift in technology, it is not affecting the number of live auctions. They are just using the ability to do online auctions to draw a larger crowd to the auctions. In fact, they have a registered bidder on their website from all 50 states.

“In the auction world, the internet hasn’t changed the crowds at the auction sales but it’s exposed those products to a much larger audience,” said Steffes.

“Before the internet, auctions have always been community oriented or local but now we do a farm retirement auction sale in Hillsboro, North Dakota, and we can bring the world to the yard. It makes a big difference.”

Despite the changing industry, there’s one competitive advantage, according to Steffes, that has always remained the same for Steffes Group.

“People. Bottom line. We all have the same schtick and we’re all trying to conduct business.

However, at the end of the day,

it’s all about people. We’re very fortunate in our world that we have a culture of work, which is nice. We have a culture of ethics and making sure that people are getting treated fairly and in the right manner.”

In Steffes Group’s mind, the only certain thing is change and Steffes also believes it boils down to perspective. The first farm auction sale that Robert Steffes did in 1960 was for $5,500. In today’s world, an average farm auction is around $550,000 or more.

“The embracing of change is not any different today than it was even a century ago,” said Steffes. “Can you imagine what people thought when the railroads came in and started putting in Bonanza farms and bringing steam engines that could pull 10 bottom plows?

Can you imagine how that was changed in terms of the sod farmers and the people who had 160 acres?”

It’s true that the only constant may be change but judging by the fact that auctions have been around for thousands of years, another constant is the

guarantee that you will always be able to find an auction.

Did you know?

Steffes performs onsite and online auctions, as well as AgIron events, farm real estate auctions, land brokerage and auctions, farm asset management and equipment appraisals. They do auctions of all sizes.

If you go to SteffesGroup.com, they provide real time auction results, news and information, as well as their new branded platform Steffes TV where they do auction sale recaps and video previews of upcoming auctions.

They have published a price guide containing everything they sold from the previous year since 1985.

Every Auction Has A Story, We Want To Help Share Yours.™ If you go to SteffesGroup.com, you will see all upcoming auctions, they provide real time auction results, news and information, as well as their branded Steffes TV platform where they do auction sale recaps and video previews of upcoming sales.

FARGOINC.COM

43

North Dakota's Big Hairy Audacious Goal 44

MAY 2019

S

ince North Dakota's birth in 1889, the state has been recognized as a leader in agriculture.

A flag is now being planted that will be recognized around the world that North Dakota is the major player in terms of ag tech.

Emerging Prairie is creating the Grand Farm, a push to create the fully autonomous farm by 2025. Over the rest of this magazine, we'll be exploring why North Dakota is the right place to launch this, what this

means for the state and why now is the time to do it?

The Steering Committee for Grand Farm has identified five areas to focus on to fully execute the Grand Farm.

1. Ecosystem 2. Innovation 3. Makerspace 4. Education 5. Policy We will take an in-depth look at each of these areas to show you the work that's being done on Grand Farm.

BY Andrew Jason PHOTOS BY Hillary Ehlen

FARGOINC.COM

45

ABOUT

GRAND FARM

The Case for

GRAND FARM

I

n order to feed the growing global population on less land and more sustainably, a strategic shift in agriculture will be needed. To address this needed innovation, the Grand Farm has been created in hopes of facilitating the first fully autonomous farm by the year 2025. The Grand Farm will introduce a collaborative approach, harnessing the region’s talents and experiences while attracting additional partners to assist us in bringing the effort to life.

To accomplish this task, Grand Farm will focus on five pillars: 1

2

Building a world-class ecosystem focused on advanced technologies in agriculture

Innovation – research, acceleration of startups and collaboration 3

Makerspace – creating a test site for rapid prototyping of autonomous technologies 4

5

Accelerated learning to upskill the workforce

Promoting autonomousfriendly policy

Autonomous farming will make farmers more efficient while also increasing profits and providing additional access to agriculture for new farmers. The Grand Farm initiative aims to be a catalyst of change to improve our region, as well as positively impact humanity.

46

MAY 2019

ABOUT

GRAND FARM

The Grand Farm Steering Committee The Issues Grand Farm will address four main concerns: • Feeding a growing population — Within the next 30 years, the solutions and continued advancement of technology will be imperative to feeding the world. With an estimated world population of 10 billion people by 2050, leadership across sectors such as technology, business, education and government will be critical to producing integrative solutions to solve world hunger.

• Farm labor shortage — The United States has been in the midst of a well-known farm labor shortage for decades.

Over the course of the past 50 years, more and more Americans have been moving to cities and other urban areas, leaving fewer people in rural areas to work on farms.

Autonomous farming will help alleviate this issue.

• Lack of venture capital — The Midwest has historically struggled to attract venture capital in comparison with other geographical areas in the United States. This has limited risk capital and has significantly decreased the opportunities for commercialization. Grand Farm will be designed to facilitate the connections between capital and innovative businesses in agriculture.

• Workforce skills gap — Low unemployment combined with a growing need for STEMbased jobs are forcing the U.S. to rethink education. In the coming years, the region will need to find a way to fill its open job positions by not just implementing 21st-century curriculum changes for K-12, but also by helping mid-career individuals transition to new careers in technology-related fields.

Lauris Molbert Venture Partner, Arthur Ventures - Steering Committee Chair Christi Offutt Chair of RD Offutt Co. Barry Batcheller Chair of Appareo Tammy Miller CEO of Border States Electric Jake Joraanstad Cofounder of Bushel Eric Hardmeyer CEO Bank of North Dakota Kevin Biffert Founder of Fargo Automation Mike Derheim CoFounder of The Nerdery & Prime Digital Academy Michelle Kommer Commissioner of ND Department of Commerce Keith Kreps RDO Equipment Executive Vice President Greg Tehven Founder of Emerging Prairie

Why Build it Here? And Why Us? The Great Plains, specifically the Red River Valley, is uniquely positioned to lead the nation's efforts in autonomous farming.

Both private and public sector organizations in the region are starting to make great strides in the creation of hardware, software and autonomous

Learn more at GrandFarm.com

technologies required to meet this challenge. Our region has a rich tradition of innovators in agriculture taking on difficult challenges.

Additionally, the mechanization of farming in the Red River Valley has developed around companies and university interactions, setting the stage for what Barry Batcheller described as “Robsention Valley” at TEDxFargo in 2018. Batcheller described how innovation started in the region: Steiger Tractor became Case IH and Phoenix International became John Deere Electronic Solutions.

As these companies became more successful, more offshoot businesses were started.

On September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy challenged the country to go to the moon. Kennedy invoked the pioneering spirit that has dominated American culture and, in the process, excited millions to dream big. The by-product from this speech was not only space exploration but also the inspiration of scientists who have led modern technological advances. The Grand Farm is our community’s moonshot, led by a talented, experienced and dedicated team.

The Grand Farm initiative is designed to take this moonshot idea and drive activities that enable awareness, collaboration, development and deployment of identified requirements for the fully autonomous farm.

It is our responsibility to harness the experience, talent and potential of our region to feed a growing population. It is our opportunity to improve the human condition. Join us.

A fullayted farm autom

50

MAY 2019

in s r a e y 10,000the making

ABOUT

GRAND FARM

North Dakota’s roots are agrarian.

The work being done here has affected agriculture around the world. It’s time we plant the flag in the ground and declare it to the world. That’s exactly what we’re doing with Grand Farm, the world’s first fully automated farm.

To understand where agriculture is going, you have to understand where it came from. Farming began about 10,000 years ago when society went from huntergatherers to an agricultural society. They first grew wheat, barley, peas and lentils instead of letting them grow wild. And that’s kind of how it stayed.

Over the next thousands of years, farming didn’t change that dramatically.

“In many ways, agriculture is the same as it was thousands of years ago,” said Barry Batcheller, Chairman of the Board for Appareo.

“If you were to go back to Mesopotamia, you’d find that the early agrarians would make a slit in the earth and put plants in there to grow.

From that, you graduated to water buffalo and they’d drag a stick through the ground and then put seeds in it and it’d grow.”

As the water buffalo demonstrated, over the millennia that followed, technology slowly shaped the way that farming is done.

However, for the most part, ag tech didn’t transform that rapidly until everything changed in the late 1800s.

North Dakota played a pivotal role in that change.

Two men by the name of George Cass and Benjamin Cheney, both railroad officials, purchased 13,000 acres of land in Casselton, N.D. According to the State Historical Society of North Dakota, they continued to expand their property until they owned more than 100,000 acres of farmland in North Dakota and Minnesota.

This kicked off what officially became known as bonanza farms. These gigantic wheat farms were meant to create gigantic amounts of wealth for its owners.

Because of its large size, these bonanza farms required countless men to work the fields but alongside those men came advanced agriculture technology. The impact from the bonanza

farms has had a lasting effect on the Red River Valley over the last 150 years.

“Early on, the big Bonanza farms encouraged people to attempt to use early means of mechanization to plant more land and to grow more crops,” said Batcheller. “Fast forward, we’re doing the same thing today. We’re planting more land, we’re highly mechanized.”

Now, the Red River Valley and North Dakota as a whole are officially planting its stake in the ground as a continuing leader in ag tech with the launch of the Grand Farm, a push to create the first fully automated farm. Over the rest of this magazine, we’ll examine what this means for our state and the impact it will have on our economy and workforce.

However, this all started with one simple question: What’s our major? That’s where Batcheller comes in.

WHAT’S OUR MAJOR? In March 2017, at a One Million Cups in Fargo, Batcheller, who has been an industry leader and involved with ag tech his entire career, challenged the Red River Valley to declare its major. After many conversations with Greg Tehven, the executive director of Emerging Prairie, the choice appeared to be easy as to what the region’s major should be.

FARGOINC.COM

51

ABOUT

GRAND FARM

“I think there’s no doubt in the hearts and minds of many people in this region that this is an agricultural region of this country,” said Batcheller.

“What’s infused upon that and what’s happened over the last 40-50 years is that there’s been the collision of traditional agrarian society with technologies of the modern world that are coming in and changing things.”

While the history of bonanza farms and our deep agrarian roots play an important role in declaring agricultural technology as our major, it also has deep roots in our business community.

“What made us decide to declare a major in this area?” said Batcheller.

“These activities that are ongoing around the area of mechanized agriculture have an epicenter here in Fargo. We have Case IH. We have John Deere Electronics.

We are doing work with a company called AGCO. There are really three large agricultural companies in the United States: Case IH, John Deere and AGCO. Here in the NDSU Research and Technology Park, a substantial amount of the advanced technology that’s taking place electronically in agriculture is taking place within a mile of where you’re sitting right now.”

It would be shortsighted to think of Grand Farm as just

(Left to right) Barry Batcheller, Chairman of the Board for Appareo, and Brian Carroll, Director of Operations at Emerging Prairie, at Appareo's headquarters in Fargo at the NDSU Research and Technology Park.

creating a fully automated farm. It’s about creating an ecosystem that will attract companies, workers and capital to flock to North Dakota to become involved.

Emerging Prairie, a Fargo organization that focuses on connecting and celebrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem, is spearheading this initiative. Brian Carroll, Director of Operations at Emerging Prairie, explained that there are really five pillars that go into the growth of Grand Farm.

1. Ecosystem 2. Innovation Platform 3. Maker Space 4. Upscaling the workforce 5. Policy “When we thought about the Grand Farm, this is in the future, this is what the future’s

going to look like and there’s going to be a whole bunch of different change that’s going to have to happen to get to that point,” said Carroll. “We can either be participants in that change or that change can happen to us.”

However, again, to know where you’re going, you have to go back to where you came from.

AGRICULTURE AND THE RED RIVER VALLEY Edward Gideon Melroe was a farmer in Gwinner, N.D., who was frustrated with the backbreaking labor that went into farming in the 1920s. He decided to take things into his own hands when he invented the windrow pickup. He eventually opened a factory in Gwinner to manufacture this invention.

Fast-forward 30 years to 1957 and Louis and Cyril Keller, brothers from Rothsay, Minn., invented a three-wheeled loader because they were tired of all the work that went into cleaning up the barn.

The Kellers brothers went into business with Melroe to produce the Melroe selfpropelled loader, model M60.

Fast-forward another 60 years and you now have Bobcat Doosan, an international company that’s one of the major players in ag tech.

The examples go on. Steiger Tractor became Case IH. Phoenix International became John Deere Electronic Solutions. And on and on. As these companies became more successful, more offshoot businesses sprang from them and success begat FARGOINC.COM

53

ABOUT

GRAND FARM

I think there’s no doubt in the hearts and minds of many people in this region that this is an agricultural region of this country. What’s infused upon that and what’s happened over the last 40-50 years is that there’s been the collision of traditional agrarian society with technologies of the modern world.”

success. It turns out this is the same way another wellknown tech area began.

“That domino effect of creating businesses that spawn other businesses is exactly what happened in Silicon Valley with the Fairchild company,” said Batcheller.

“Fairchild begat Intel and so on. What happens when you get the critical mass of technical competence in an area, it begins to multiply. It begins to split. We encourage that in our business. We’re not asking our people to quit and start making businesses. But, I think that it’s a very positive thing that people do.”

One of those success stories that came from another ag tech company is Appareo.

Batcheller started at Steiger Tractor before founding Phoenix International in Fargo.

While there, he pioneered the development of electronics for John Deere until the company acquired Phoenix International and became 54

MAY 2019

John Deere Electronics. In 2003, Batcheller founded Appareo, a product development and technology company that specializes in agriculture and aerospace, and has a joint venture with AGCO. “The more electronics companies we have, the more software companies we have, the more attractive to people outside of the area to come here and bring their families and they know they have mobility. That’s a big deal,” said Batcheller. “That’s a lot of what’s going on in New England and Silicon Valley.

People are not concerned.

They know that if they pack up and move to one of those areas, there are many opportunities for them to grow.”

Grand Farm hopes to continue on the success of the past. However, it will also play a major role in the future of automation and work in general when it comes to agriculture.

AUTOMATION AND WORK IN AGRICULTURE “When I was a kid, I saw a movie called Star Wars,” said Batcheller. “Luke Skywalker’s foster parents are called Mr. and Mrs. Lars. They were moisture farmers.

When people think about automation, they probably think about the Lars family

on Tatooine. That probably gives people an unsettling impression of where this could end up.”

When people think of automation in agriculture, the first thought that probably comes to mind is robots running around the field and barn taking care of every aspect of farming. While that may be the truth someday, we are still a long way off from that becoming a reality.

In fact, automation will simply continue the trend of what’s been happening over the last 50 years.

“The truth of the matter is that the social structure of farming has changed substantially and will continue to change substantially,” said Batcheller. “It does not mean that there will not be a population that’s close to the earth who enjoys that lifestyle of farming. It will mean that the means by which they accomplish that will change.”

The other thing that probably pops into people’s minds when you talk about automation is the replacement of jobs. In a state that had 15,122 open jobs in March 2019, according to Job Service ND, the simple fact is that there just aren't enough people to fill the jobs required, especially in farming when the jobs are only for certain times of the year.

ABOUT

GRAND FARM

“It turns out that the demand for ancillary labor happens in two parts of the year and during the rest of the year, there isn’t so much of a demand necessarily,” said Batcheller. “Historically, the social construct was that there were always people around to help. Families were larger. They had many children. There was a ready workforce of young people available during harvesting and planting.

“That’s not the case anymore.

Farms are getting larger.

Families are getting smaller.

The capability of having a workforce of that nature at the right times is not viable anymore. Nevertheless, the demand for the goods and services produced by farms are there so you have to satisfy that. The way of doing that is by automation. It will replace periods of time where there is a temporary demand for labor with automation.”

Automation will replace those unfilled jobs. Let’s look at harvesting as a good example of how automation can help solve a workforce problem.

Normally, farmers will hire some seasonal employees to work 16-20 hour days to harvest all the crop. These workers need to eat, sleep and spend time with their families. However, now you can have a fully automated 56

MAY 2019

So you’re probably wondering what exactly the future of farming will look like. Well, Batcheller has an idea.

“Twenty-five to 50 years from now, if you are harvesting wheat, there will be grain carts on the field that will be fully autonomous. They will come alongside the harvesting machine. The harvesting machine will offload its content until it’s tenders. The combines themselves will be incredibly smart. The grains that they are harvesting will be segregated. It will be able to segregate grains according to certain characteristics of the grains within the combine themselves and offload those grain characteristics to different tenders filtered by any number

of parameters such as protein and things like that.

“The tenders will then go to a staging area where the contents will be coupled to a Department of Transportation approved autonomous truck that will haul them back to the elevator or to the farm sites themselves. Current farming practices require that a large amount of time be expended in the logistics of moving crops after they’re harvested. That will be performed primarily by autonomous equipment 25-50 years from now.”

ABOUT

GRAND FARM

The more electronics companies we have, the more software companies we have, the more attractive to people outside of the area to come here and bring their families and they know they have mobility. That’s a big deal.” combine harvest a field 24 hours a day creating increased productivity. That’s just one way that automation will help solve a problem.

This technology is still new and only being used by early adopters but we are not that far away from when this technology will be adopted by the average farmer. The trend has been for combines and tractors to become bigger, but there will be a shift to smaller machines as they become more productive and efficient.

This will hopefully affect the cost automated equipment.

“Farmers are currently required to spend large amounts of money to buy equipment,” said Batcheller.

“Now, the equipment is very productive but it’s expensive.

A new combine or tractor today is a many hundreds of thousands of dollars investment. The emerging technology trend is to move toward smaller machines.

There will be more of those on the farm, but each machine will be less expensive.”

Despite what you might think, 58

MAY 2019

this innovation won’t just favor the larger equipment manufacturers.

“I believe the innovations in this area will start in smaller businesses. I think the larger businesses are going to wait.

There are many things that concern them about this. To change over from the types of technologies that they are using today to future technology is not a trivial task for them.

“What we’re trying to do with the Grand Farm is to create an impetus for these smaller businesses to create the next generation of products and to bring these products to the farm. We aren’t looking for this to take place at John Deere, Case IH and AGCO. They will ultimately, of course, be participants and build great equipment. We think the vanguard of this will be smaller businesses that deploy and demonstrate the capability.”

SOLVING GLOBAL PROBLEMS Right now, there are about 7.7 billion people on earth. By 2050, there is expected to be 10 billion people and every one of them must eat. However, the trend doesn’t just end with feeding that growing population.

“Many of those people are transitioning to higher protein diets,” said Batcheller. “A lot of

the protein that’s developed is from animals that eat crops.

It turns out that’s a fairly poor conversion. Trying to convert corn to steak or pork through the process of an animal’s gut is not a very efficient process.”

In the 1950s, Norman Borlaug and other scientists led what was called the Green Revolution. By focusing on new farming techniques, this revolution created a massive increase in yields around the world. Borlaug alone is often credited with saving a billion people from starvation.

The hope of Grand Farm is that this ag tech ecosystem will put North Dakota on a global scale to help solve these growing problems.

“We started looking at the Grand Farm as a potential to anchor on some really big problems that we could put some focus on solving,” said Carroll. “That’s where the accelerator and innovation platform started to come and the accelerated learning model where we’re looking to bring in a code school and looking at ways we can do software design and UX design but eventually move it into embedded systems, hardware, robotics, internet of things, artificial intelligence, all those different things that would be required to do that.”

It’s not just a global hunger crisis that farming will have to

GRAND FARM

solve, it’s also environmental concerns. The concern of chemicals and GMOs have been well reported in the media. However, the truth is that without the increase in chemicals and genetically modified organisms, there wouldn’t be enough food to feed the population.

Batcheller believes that there will be a push to increase the yields and productivity with mechanization.

“There’s a growing concern across the world of what affect the use of chemicals will have on the resulting food products and how they make it into the human ecosystem,” said Batcheller. “As a result of that, machines of the future are going to be very, very careful about the amount and location of chemical application. In the old days, they used to come with beet crop workers who came out to the field and hoed the beets. There will be, in the future, extremely high speed machines that will go down these roads and mechanically weed the crops. That will really take the pressure off chemical application.”

Over the rest of this magazine, we’ll be looking at how Grand Farm is hoping to solve these problems and how Grand Farm will affect our state. This push toward ag tech will put North Dakota on the same scale as some of the biggest thinkers in the world.

A great way of looking at Grand Farm is to look at other technology companies working to solve global problems. One of Elon Musk’s, the eccentric founder of Tesla, companies is SpaceX. They are working on a project called Starlink that hopes to launch 12,000 satellites into orbit around the Earth that will provide internet to everywhere on the globe.

“If you think telephones changed the world, what happens when every place on this planet – like the savanna in Africa – will have access to very inexpensive gigabit data?” asked Batcheller.

So, if you have to look back, to see where we’re going, doesn’t it make sense that the region that helped shape agriculture continues to lead the way?

“In my mind, the time is right for this type of stuff,” said Carroll. “There’s a great convergence that’s taking place. There’s a clear understanding of what the future looks like and I think it’s time for our region and North Dakota to be deeply engaged and involved in that process and be on the leading edge of it. We have the natural resources available.

We have the talent. We have organizations. We have it in our DNA. This is a great opportunity for us to lead the world around it.”

EC O SYS T E M

ECOSYSTEM N

orth Dakota has an agricultural background and a passion for innovation.

That’s why it’s imperative to build up the ag tech ecosystem. After all, Michael Olmstead, Global Head of Corporate Partnerships for Plug and Play, an international innovation platform, may have best explained why a strong ecosystem is so vitally important for the state.

“You’re only as strong as your ecosystem. That ecosystem is complex and there are a lot of different stakeholders and different types of entities but you need the government, corporates, startups, venture capitalists and innovation junkies in place. But once you have that ecosystem, it’s very tough to pull apart.”

FARGOINC.COM

63

Moderated by Brian Carroll

HILLARY EHLEN

A Roundtable Discussion

64

MAY 2019

EC O SYS T E M

GRAND FARM

F

or years, the Red River Valley has played an integral role in the agricultural ecosystem. Technology and methods developed in our backyard have changed the way farming is done around the world.

The Grand Farm hopes to continue that innovation.

The team at Emerging Prairie has developed five different ways they are hoping to create a symbol around Grand Farm that will bring people together in collaboration.

1. Ecosystem 2. Innovation Platform 3. Maker Space 4. Upscaling the workforce 5. Policy Over the rest of the magazine, we will be exploring how the Grand Farm hopes to shape the future of automation in agriculture. However, to get started, we wanted to ask the question: why does the Red River Valley have the right ecosystem to get this off the ground?

FARGOINC.COM

65

EC O SYS T E M

GRAND FARM

Q&A

DISCUSSION

Q1 Meet the Participants

Carroll: Barry Batcheller introduced the Grand Farm at One Million Cups in March 2017. He challenged the community and said, "What is our major?" When we thought about it, we went through a whole bunch of bad and good ideas and landed on ag tech. The question is why would this region make sense for this type of thing and is this the right time to do it as a community?

Peterson: If you looked at technology adoption in agriculture around the country, this region is about as quick to adapt to technologies as any other. I'd even say quicker than most. South Dakota might have an argument, but most of the rest of the country doesn't.

Jane Schuh Vice President for Research and Creative Activity ndsu.edu/research

Schuh: I've heard that as well.

What makes the difference, do you think, Carl?

Peterson: Large fields make a difference.

I think farmers are a little more progressive here and I think it's of necessity. This is a pretty unforgiving place to farm.

Schuh: I have a friend who does wheat pathogen work and she's made the same comment.

She's from Puerto Rico, did her graduate work in Nebraska, worked for NDSU as a wheat rust pathologist for a number of years before taking a position with Cornell in international agriculture. She commented to me that she thought farmers were incredibly smart here and more willing to take up new technology than anywhere else

66

MAY 2019

she had been. I don’t think she was trying to pull the wool over my eyes to make me feel good.

We do have a very educated population.

Johnson: I have my mentors tell me that. He used this exact same phrase, "You have 20 minutes a year to get the gumbo in." What he was saying was is that our window is very small.

You asked about why here.

Fields are large and flat. We're not extremely populated so you can get from one to the other in a short period of time. I look at past innovations. Four-wheel drive tractor was pretty much invented here.

I look at how the first auto steer system cost about $40,000 and, in a short time, the cost went down to around $4,000.

Everyone has at least one now and I happen to have five.

I look at the first computer that I bought, a TRS80. It was very expensive and didn't do a whole lot of stuff. Now my phone probably has more computing capability than that did.

Carroll: We had a meeting with Microsoft, and it was Sandi Piatz, Randy Gerhold and Taya Spelhaug. We're having a conversation and at the end I realized that all three of them grew up on a farm. You're talking about senior leaders all growing up in that industry. I don't think there are too many companies out there in which you would see that level of understanding or engagement.

Schuh: We are all talking about who we know, how we know

them and how many ways we're connected. That connectedness helps get over the energy of activation on a lot of things.

You have networks that are already in place. North Dakota is a small place where you know everybody. People say, "I know so and so from some little town in North Dakota.” I'm like, "Who is it?

I probably know them." If I don't, I know someone who does.

If I'm getting the sales pitch from a salesperson who’s trying to promote a new technology, that's different than my neighbors telling me, "I just put one on my tractor, and it’s working great."

Carroll: Chase, anything from your perspective?

Nelson: I'm just listening and thinking of the generational aspect. When auto steer came out, I was in the fifth grade and I was running a tractor without auto steer. Then sixth, seventh grade, I all of the sudden had auto steer and life was good and I wasn't getting yelled out for making hoops in the field.

My age group that's coming into farming, we're starting to get to the point where we take over. I think we're more apt to try these things.

Carroll: Are there any constraints that you see in our region?

Schuh: Traditionally, venture capital has been tougher to get in North Dakota. There are not a lot of big inputs for cash so to try and get a good idea off the ground may be difficult. We were just talking about the tinkerers, the people who are the creatives.

However, they may not be the

North Dakota

Farm Stats

N.D. farm operations

26,364

N.D. farms of 2,000 or more acres

6,721

U.S. farm operations

2,042,220

U.S. farms of 2,000 or more acres

85,127

CFOs, CEOs or the COO's. That's not necessarily their skillset.

Their ideas may need to have some support to plug into the right people.

Peterson: This is irrelevant to the question really, it's just the whole concept of we're going to burn through 3, 5, 10, 15, 40 million dollars in the next three to five years and then we might get something that comes out of it. That just gives me the willies.

*Stats according to 2017 Census of Agriculture

But that's what it is. Our conservative nature here might inhibit us a little bit from those kind of farther out type ventures.

Johnson: I don't know, I don't think that money is an issue.

You have companies like Melroe, Wil-Rich, Steiger and American Crystal that started on nothing.

It's other issues rather than money. If you have a good product, it'll attract.

Peterson: Those were bootstrap kind of things and that's different from a moonshot tech. The tech thing is a different paradigm than, "I'm going to build this out in my shop and see if it works."

Q2

Carroll: When we thought about The Grand Farm, we thought about how we're going to basically have to feed two billion more people on the planet. That led us to think about some of the past challenges that we've had.

So someone like Norman Borlaug came to mind in terms of being an early

EC O SYS T E M

GRAND FARM

pioneer. And that kind of got me excited. It got the team actually excited to think that there's an opportunity to make that type of impact.

Do you ever think about what your role in the industry is around that and how to solve a major world problem like that?

Peterson: We spend a lot of time thinking about the fact that, on the very basic level, why do farmers exist? Farmers exist to feed people, right? Sometimes you get down in the weeds and think, “I’m just doing this routine stuff.” But no, we’re part of a system that feeds the world.

We have to be able to feed all of those people. And not just people in Fargo. We need to grow this food cheap enough that the poorest people in the world can afford to feed their families as well.

Norman Borlaug For those not familiar with Norman Borlaug, he was a plant pathologist who graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Over his career, he worked to solve a number of wheat production problems that were limiting wheat cultivation in Mexico.

His work kicked off what is known as the Green Revolution and dramatically increased yields around the world.

He is often credited with saving more than a billion lives because of his groundbreaking research.

68

MAY 2019

Schuh: Absolutely. Areas like sub-Saharan African are where the people need to be able to get food, disease- and droughtresistant crops with higher yield.

It’s not always just about those of us who are food-sufficient.

Peterson: Right. I'm just going to be politically incorrect a little bit. If the fruits and nuts people succeed in limiting access to genetic engineering, CRISPR, gene editing and those kinds of things, it's not the mom in Cleveland who is going to starve.

It's the people in Africa who are going to suffer. We have a responsibility to them as well.

Now, automation itself, I’m not sure if it necessarily leads to production increases but more of a productivity increase. Some of the other digital technologies around fertility, water utilization and those kinds of things do have potential to increase production. Still the major driver from Norman Borlaug and

everyone else is crop genetics.

Crop genetics has been the driver of our production increases over the last 75 years.

And it will continue to be, but automation can help enable that.

Johnson: You asked a few minutes ago about what’s a disadvantage up here. We're further from population centers.

The prices of our products are lower here than it is in New Orleans or Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

And it does get cold. We can't do year round. So we're different from a factory. A factory can start and stop basically when it wants to or when it has a demand.

We don't have that choice. Our factory starts in May and it ends in November.

Schuh: As a potential test bed for agricultural technologies, if you look at what North Dakota produces as commodities versus an Iowa, for instance, we've got a huge range of crops in our commodities system that a lot of the places don't. Just that diversity makes us a better place to test some of these concepts.

There's a lot more things we can test it on.

We don’t think about that enough or how we are connected to other places in the world that may have similar climate or disease profiles. When I think about who our NDSU researchers and local businesses are collaborating with locally and internationally, it really hits home that North Dakota can lead in this area globally. Already we have students coming to get Master's degrees at North Dakota State so that they can bring best practices in technology and policy for both traditional and new technologies adapted in places as diverse as Russia, Puerto Rico and Chile.

Carroll: There's a movie on Netflix called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and it's about this kid in Africa who was able to create a windmill to bring water onto the field and what that did for that community. That was the first time my son Quinn actually was like, "Wait, this is some of the stuff that you guys are doing, except on a macro level." It was pretty cool because it does have a global impact when we think about the food water scarcity that's out there.

This type of technology could be an enabler for it.

Nelson: It's hard to get guys out to our area to do the work that we do. This autonomous farm potentially could fix that issue because you don't need those people out there to run this equipment.

More productivity means you're going to produce more because you can get more done in the time than we are allotted.

Carroll: We’re trying to take a lean stigma approach to the processes and trying to pull as much cost out. When I think about what we're trying to do with some of these different tools, there's such a high cost in order to farm now. There are a lot of inefficiencies within the process. If there's a way that you can take some of that stuff out and focus more on the profitability, even ahead of some of the different yields, that might be an opportunity that we have here as well.

Rupp: There's a labor shortage and then there's a time shortage.

Farmers just can't get the labor for a short period of time. We find some opportunities where the window, especially outdoors, is so short, when they do harvest, they have to turn around and do some tillage. That window is so

EC O SYS T E M

North Dakota

GRAND FARM

Farm Stats

N.D. acres of farmland short that they can't get all the fall tillaging done that they want.

Meet the Participants

Meanwhile, they're spending all their energy trying to do the harvest.

Peterson: I’m just responding to the comment about efficiency versus yield. The efficiency is fine, but regardless of how much cost you can squeeze out of the system, farmers' unit of production is bushels.

Farmers like to talk about cost per acre. You know what? Unless you're going out of business, you're not selling acres. You're selling bushels, pounds, tons or whatever. Really, the biggest lever you have to lower your cost of production is to increase your yields.

Chris Johnson The owner and operator of C&S Farms, Inc., a corn, soybean and wheat operation near Great Bend, N.D. This year will be his 45th cropping season.

You hear in tough economic times people talk about cutting their cost but they end up cutting yields, and they end up going backwards instead of forwards.

Carroll: I think one of the things that Craig Rupp did at One Million Cups that I thought was remarkable is he talked about the new economic model, especially as farming as a service, and lowering the barrier points for people. Craig, could you describe Sabanto’s farming as a service and what your plans are for this year?

Rupp: We’re going out this week to attempt to plant 10,000 acres.

We have the acres lined up all the way from; it looks like it's going to be Kansas up to Canada. I'm going to be out for the next two months living out of a truck and hauling a planter up to fill the field. It turns out we're doing

70

MAY 2019

39,341,591

some tillage as well. We’re also looking at maybe even doing some field operations for some sugar beet farmers.

We have IP that can guide a tractor and pull and implement.

Long term, we want to do some applications and then start taking on that harvest. When you talk about The Grand Farm, one thing that I wanted to add is that it’s great for developing technology, but bare in mind that it's not going to go anywhere unless it's capable of being productized in terms of easy licensing agreements or IP that can go and actually be used. I've done it. If I find a technology that can solve some problems, I want to use it. I want to take it on the road and use it commercially.

Carroll: My father-in-law has 400 acres in southern Minnesota and there's a chance to lease another 80 acres so my brother-in-law and I are going to go into business and we're going to go ahead and plant probably soybeans and corn. We can do that because my father-in-law has old equipment, but when you think about someone from Fargo going into a community, along with my brother-in-law who lives in Minneapolis, if it wasn't for that equipment that's already there, there's no way we could have made that work.

Because it's available and we can do that, it's relatively simple.

I see that as potential as things

U.S. acres of farmland

900,217,576

move forward with the ability to create lower cost options, subscription as a service type of thing in which more and more people can be potentially involved with this type of activity.

Peterson: I farm the same way we farmed forever, but I don't have a big planter or big combine because I have neighbors who have fabulous equipment and are really good at running it. I hire them to till this field and plant this field and somebody sprays it, so the farming service is kind of what I'm doing already.

It works really, really well for me. I get what you're saying, but we’ve used custom harvesters for 30 years and not exclusively, but I think there's great potential in what you're talking about just for better utilization of equipment.

Q3

Carroll: When the average person things of automation, they think of jobs being displaced. When you look at automation, how can the general public get excited about some of these concepts that we're talking about when there might be a connection to job transformation or job losses?

EC O SYS T E M

GRAND FARM North Dakota

Farm Stats

U.S. average size of farm

441 acres

N.D. average size of farm Meet the Participants

1,492 acres

Johnson: For welding, a robot doesn't get tired and it generally – when it's set up right – is perfect. It doesn't get tired, sick and it doesn't come in hung over.

So instead of the person who’s physically stick welding, for example, he will probably run the robot and probably not only one, but several.

Carl Peterson Peterson Farms Seeds petersonfarmsseed.com

which is probably not happening in my lifetime.

Schuh: Working on a farm is dangerous with a fatality rate seven times higher than the average of all other jobs* because of the dirty, dull and dangerous jobs that happen on farms and the long hours that farmers put in. You're not at your sharpest when you've been running 20-hour days and it's 10 at night and you're trying to get the last stuff done for the day.

That's one of the aspects that I think automation can help with, as well. *This is a Workforce Safety & Insurance statistic from 2011, the most recent data listed on WSI’s site.]

Peterson: But to start with, you're talking about the down and dirty jobs, those are the last to get automated, right? Fixing a broken cultivator frame in the mud, there's not a robot to do that. The robot is sitting in the nice clean cab driving up and down the field.

Nelson: You still need guys for that purpose, but you need less of them.

Schuh: But the technology allows you to monitor the grain bins so that nobody’s falling off the ladder.

Nelson: They can focus on a certain job. I could be in the combine and that could be behind me digging and I don't have to worry about doing that after combining. It would affect productivity.

Carroll: So it sounds like people who are in the industry see great opportunities for automation but think about a reader who potentially sees their job turning into a robot. Do you see any problems in terms of getting people kind of centered on what the problem is and how this can be used to address it? Or could it be misconstrued that this could be a way in which jobs can change and be reformatted?

Johnson: That. What you just said.

Peterson: We have a labor shortage here, but we’re working with a labor shortage nationwide until all the robots come and nobody has to work anymore,

Nelson: I mean you're not going to make everyone happy with it.

There's going to be those guys who are good at the job who are going to be upset that they might potentially lose that job but it gives them an opportunity to learn new skill sets and maybe they'll learn how to run a robot.

Schuh: It goes back to what Carl said a while ago. What's the purpose of a farmer? To feed people. If we can do it with the labor shortage that we have, if we can more efficiently and effectively pull those bushels off the field and get them to have a safe source of nutrients for people, feeding the people is what we're doing.

Q4

Carroll: We've kind of touched on this topic a couple of times but I'll just kind of restate the question.

One of the biggest problems or challenges that we have in our state is the workforce shortage. If you think about automation, it can fill these jobs, but also replace jobs, so there's a little bit of a balance that takes place. Do you think overall automation will hurt or help the workforce shortage in the state?

Nelson: I don't think it can hurt it just because we have that shortage. I think it's going to help.

FARGOINC.COM

73

EC O SYS T E M

North Dakota

GRAND FARM

Meet the Participants

Farm Stats

Peterson: I have a neighbor.

He had a brand new John Deere planter. It was a Sunday afternoon, he thought, "I'm going to go ahead and start planting."

But he drove up to back up to his planter, he put it in reverse, and the tractor wouldn't go in reverse. Years ago, you'd get underneath and you'd bang on some stuff and wiggle around and you'd get it to go in reverse.

He had to wait until Monday until he could get a tech. That was a simple thing. But when you get automation and multiple systems and redundancies and all that, the kind of guy you need might actually be harder to find.

Nelson: It is frustrating when you can't fix something yourself because you don't have the program to plug into it so you have to sit there and wait.

Brian Carroll Director of Operations at Emerging Prairie emergingprairie.com

Peterson: We've come a long way from the 900 Versatile where the shifter came off in my hand. You went, "Let's see, I've got a pipe wrench and a 8 pound sledge, I can fix it.�

Johnson: I see autonomous replacing jobs in California where they're hand picking stuff.

Where they use a lot of labor and maybe the robot could look at a strawberry and decide not to pick this one, pick that one and so on.

Nelson: I think of our aronia bushes. We hand pull all weeds around every single one of them.

If I could have a Roomba do that for me, I'd be pretty happy.

Schuh: If you look at the big picture, you may be replacing this person's job and that's a big deal for that person at the time. It may change what they’re doing in their life and where they do it. In the history of the history,

74

MAY 2019

Estimated market value of land and buildings average per farm

$2,546,783

Estimated market value of all machinery and equipment average per farm

$375,872

we turn over jobs and types of jobs. It's the evolution of work and I don't think that you can put the brakes on being able to do the job better. I don't think that's ever worked and I don't think that it will in this instance.

Carroll: Maybe there’s a benchmark or an example within the oil and energy sector in western North Dakota. Six-seven years ago, there used to be man camps full of people that were just doing real labor-intensive work. That wasn't sustainable, especially with the fluctuations of the prices. It appears that energy has really taken a lot of automation, a lot of efficiency within that, which has created a higher skill job but also reduced the amount of intense labor that was needed within that.

Think about people who have been working in the industry for 20-30 years. Automation becomes kind of personal to them, is there anything we can do to educate the public?

Especially as young people or even older people are coming into jobs and thinking about what they need to do in order to work in the digital age?

Schuh: We are in a really good area because, particularly in agriculture, we're early adopters if it makes sense for the bottom line. Farmers are really practical in that, I don't know that I've ever been in a thesis defense, for example, that I haven't asked the kid, "Why should I care about this? Why should the farmer care about this?" And when we're talking agricultural production, that answer better have a component of sustainability. And by sustainable, I mean that it can allow my kid to farm our land and have a good way of life.

Carroll: Chase, any observations?

Nelson: As far as the education aspect, my wife teaches at Northern Cass and she teaches preschool there and they're already learning how to do coding. It's already in education.

We talked about the evolution of work. They know it's going to happen. The fact that they're teaching coding so early means that kids are going to look at technology as a job. Even when I went to school, we didn't do anything with technology as far as learning how to do that type of thing.

EC O SYS T E M

GRAND FARM

Schuh: Work and how we do work is always evolving.

Meet the Participants

Carroll: We talked about why this region is maybe the right spot for this to occur, could it be because we are used to this level of change? Thinking in terms of Northern Cass, maybe that isn't as prevalent within the country as it might be in this region in terms of accepting efficiencies in automation.

Schuh: I'll give a plug for our education system in K-20. I don't know that I see people really appreciating how good our schools are in North Dakota.

I mean even rural schools that maybe you don't have a fantastic range of extracurricular activities, but our kids sure know how to read. They know how to write.

They know how to do math pretty darn well.

Chase Nelson A farmer of corn, wheat, soybeans and Aronia Berries and lives in Amenia, North Dakota.

*Not pictured

Craig Rupp CEO of Sabanto, a farming-asa-service company performing row-crop operations using advanced autonomous equipment. sabantoag.com

Peterson: I completely agree with that, but I also think we need to look at the social structure that we have in this region as opposed to much of the rest of the country. My sister and brother-in-law were teachers in California. Yes, we have problems that break your heart when you hear about them, even in small schools, but we have a higher proportion of intact families who are pushing and getting kids ready to school and are reinforcing than a lot of parts of the country.

Carroll: Craig, is there anything that you'd like to interject based off some of the topics that we've had here?

Rupp: Farmers are going to have to have another skillset. I read this story once about how there used to be a lot of piano tuners

76

MAY 2019

in the world and when the record player came out, a lot of music was now at your disposal. A lot of piano tuners suddenly found themselves out of a job because people were getting rid of their pianos. It's not like jobs are going to go away, they're going to have to develop new skill sets.

A lot of farmers that I've dealt with in the past, there's always the grandfather, father and then there's always someone younger who is in charge of the IT, GPS system, mapping or agronomy. I just think it's another skillset that they're going to have to acquire and I don't think it's going to be a problem.

Q5

Carroll: We think about the ecosystem and start looking at specific gaps in the marketplace, especially from an automation standpoint.

Are there any real obvious ones that you can see in which automation can help?

Rupp: For the likes of me, I have no idea why agronomists and people taking agriculture in college aren’t required to do two semesters of programming Python work.

If I was the Dean of Agriculture at NDSU, next semester all agronomists and anyone in agriculture should have two semesters of programming language.

Peterson: We hire a fair number of agronomists and I don't think any of them can program in Python. What would they be able to do for us that they can't now?

Rupp: Right now, most farmers look at data but the only toolbox

they have is Excel. There are some amazing things you can do with Python and it's a very easy language to learn. Elementary kids are learning it. What's going to happen is they're going to figure out something because they have the ability and they're going to understand how easy it is to program and start doing things themselves and create IP. Peterson: I don't know anything about Python, but our agronomists are working with precision Ag programs like SMS and, of course, Climate.

Rupp: But the problem is you're always limited by what the tool gives you. If you want to punch the data, you want to look at the data from a certain perspective, you're going to have to wait until someone like Climate or another software, they're going to have to implement it themselves and then give that to the farmers. I think it would be very valuable if they had the tools. You know what's going to happen? These kids are going to sit around a table, they're going to come up with a neat idea and it’s going to require a little software programming. How do they do it now? You have to wait until some computer science kid who happens to have an agriculture background comes along.

Schuh: That's an interesting point, Craig. Maybe it's a track in the agronomy field because it's probably not for every kid that goes through, but for someone who is looking to maybe do a little deeper dive into data analytics. You may not need every worker to have that capability, but it could really be a jump forward to have someone with that skill set in an operation.

I N N OVAT I O N

T

here are numerous tech startups that are making big moves in the state to drive changes in the ag tech space. From drone companies to app developers to the universities to global accelerators, companies and people from all around the world are investing in our state. These are just some of the people ensuring that North Dakota is ready for the future of agriculture.

INNOVATION FARGOINC.COM

79

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How

THE STATE

Is Preparing for Automation

A

ccording to Job Service ND, there were 15,122 open jobs in North Dakota in March. That number is expected to be much higher. The state believes that automation may be able to help fill those open jobs. To learn what the state is doing to prepare for automation and how it might help solve some of the state’s biggest problems, we talked to the Department of Commerce staff.

When people think of automation, they think of jobs being replaced, however, the Workforce Development Council’s report of recommendation says, “The Council recommends that digitization and automation of business processes be an important part of the solution to address the worker shortage by remodeling and reimplementing the ‘automation credit’ eliminated during the 2017 legislative session.” This may seem counter-intuitive that automation may help solve our workforce shortage but explain how it could be a good thing.

While we understand that the topic of automation can prompt an initial reaction of concern, our country has a long history, dating back to the Industrial Revolution, of seeing automation create new and better jobs.

Automation changes work by creating efficiencies, improving productivity and quality and in some cases eliminates jobs.

However, as history has shown, even where jobs are replaced, new and better jobs are created.

With the impending wave of highly technical automation, we expect future efforts

Michelle Kommer Department of Commerce Commissioner

to automate repetitive and manual work to provide new opportunities for exciting, highly skilled careers.

The timing for increased automation is right. Last summer, for the first time since records have been kept, there were more jobs open in our nation than people to fill them.

The same is true here in North Dakota. There are more than 15,000 open jobs as reported

by Job Service North Dakota.

We believe that number to be at least twice as many based on conversations we have with businesses across the state. With one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation and the highest labor market participation rate in that

nation, there are more jobs in North Dakota than qualified workers. Further, the future of work is changing. According to a 2018 study by McKinsey, by 2030, time spent using advanced technical skills across all jobs will increase by 50 percent. The same study found that the need for “basic digital sills” will increase across all job by 69 percent. As Governor Burgum often says, every company needs to become a technology company – or it will be replaced by one.

The Workforce Development Council, made of up private sector business leaders across all industries and geographies, recognized the place automation and artificial intelligence has in solving workforce challenges by recommending investments in automation in North Dakota.

North Dakota needs to be poised to do more than just adapt to the trend toward increased automation, we need to be prepared to lead. And we are, I feel, fortunate to live in a statewide community with inspired entrepreneurs, savvy business leaders and passionate citizens who are boldly committed to a successful future for our state!

FARGOINC.COM

81

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

The Agricultural Products Utilization Commission and Research ND Grant program seem like the perfect grant to encourage innovation in ag tech. Tell us more about the process and who you want to see take advantage of it.

North Dakota offers several successful research programs with proven track records that encourage innovation within ag tech. With two amazing research universities, the region is known for its leadership and research prowess in precision agriculture.

Areas include, but are not limited to, growth and development in crop research, unmanned systems, innovative farm implement development and the software applications that support a highly complex global food chain. Learning from past practices, Commerce is leading an initiative to take research programs to the next level as it is standing up intellectual property commercialization and tech transfer team in conjunction with the university system and the Bank of ND. What services from the Department of Commerce are out there that you think are underutilized in terms of encouraging automation?

Educating and marketing Commerce services is paramount to the success of encouraging automation in ND’s primary sectors. Commerce offers the subject matter expertise to guide innovators, entrepreneurs and mature businesses through every stage of their life cycle to ensure that they can meet modern global demands. For example, ND Commerce Economic Developers can connect companies engaged in automation to partner organizations that specialize in this area. In addition, Commerce can offer special products or programs that will create an efficient and 82

MAY 2019

Programs Available from the Department of Commerce James Leiman Director, Economic Development and Finance Division Interim Director, Workforce Division

inexpensive experience for the customer during their transition.

Leveraging developers in every targeted industry is sometimes underutilized and ND Commerce welcomes any company wishing to realize automation goals to contact the Department so that we can support the project and meet unique customer needs and requirements.

Why is North Dakota uniquely positioned to launch Grand Farm and be a leader in terms of innovation in automation ag tech?

North Dakota is uniquely positioned to launch the Grand Farm and be a leader in ag tech innovation due to its unique entrepreneurial spirit, roots in farming and amazing culture.

We have some of the world’s premier ag tech innovators that have changed the way in which we farm from Appareo Systems to Bobcat to John Deere Electronic Solutions. It doesn’t end here as an industry, as well as UND and NDSU researchers, have brought global ag tech to new levels in precision ag. The unique cluster of tech innovators, North Dakotan can do spirit, firstclass research facilities, as well as connection to the land, makes North Dakota the preeminent location for the Grand Farm.

Opportunities your business may qualify for North Dakota offers many finance and tax incentives to benefit primary sector businesses. Below is a listing of different financing, tax incentives and training opportunities. Make sure you do your research to see if you qualify for these.

Agricultural Products Utilization Commission business.nd.gov/apuc The mission of APUC is to create new wealth and employment opportunities through the development of new and expanded uses of North Dakota agricultural products.

Community Development Block Grant/Loan Fund communityservices.nd.gov These funds are awarded to communities for real property, site improvements and infrastructure, and can fund working capital. They are designed to assist primary sector and retail sector businesses looking to establish or expand in communities which can be debt or equity.

MATCH Program bnd.nd.gov/business/matchprogram The MATCH Program is designed to encourage and attract financially strong companies to North Dakota. The program is targeted to manufacturing, processing and value-added industries.

North Dakota Development Fund nddevelopmentfund.com This provides flexible gap financing through debt and equity investments for new or expanding primary sector businesses in the state of North Dakota.

PACE Program bnd.nd.gov/business/paceprogram The PACE Fund helps communities expand their economic base by creating new jobs. The program has two elements: • Participation by BND with a local lender in a community-based loan • Participation by the PACE Fund with the local community to reduce the borrower’s interest rate.

Agricultural Commodity Processing Facility Investment Tax Credit Google Agricultural Commodity Processing Facility Investment Tax Credit An individual, estate, trust, partnership, corporation or limited liability company is allowed an income tax credit for investing in an agricultural commodity processing facility in North Dakota certified by the Department of Commerce Division of Economic Development and Finance.

Agricultural Processing Plant Construction Materials Sales Tax Exemption Google Agricultural Processing Plant Construction Materials Sales Tax Exemption Gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property used to construct an agricultural commodity processing facility in this state are exempt from taxes under this chapter.

Learn more about all of the Department of Commerce’s services at commerce.nd.gov.

Manufacturing Agricultural or Recycling Equipment Sales Tax Exemption Google Manufacturing Agricultural or Recycling Equipment Sales Tax Exemption A new or expanding plant may exempt machinery or equipment from sales and use taxes if it is: 1. used primarily for manufacturing or agricultural processing or 2. used solely for recycling.

Income Tax Exemption nd.gov/tax/user/businesses/ exemptionsrefundscredits A primary sector or tourism business may qualify for an income tax exemption for up to five years.

Property Tax Exemptions Google Property Tax Exemptions A new or expanding business project that is certified as a primary sector business by the Department of Commerce Division of Economic Development and Finance may be granted a property tax exemption for up to five years.

North Dakota New Jobs Training Program jobsnd.com/business/business The program provides a mechanism for primary sector businesses to secure funding to help offset the cost of training new employees for business expansion and/or startup.

Shawn Riley Chief Information Officer Governor Burgum Cabinet

More education will be needed for both the current workforce and future workers to handle these high tech jobs. How is the state thinking about that education for both people who are currently in the workforce but also those who are still in K-12?

The state of North Dakota realizes that the 21st-century workforce is highly digital, everchanging and at a high risk for cyber attack. To prepare students and workers for the challenges of this environment, we have created integrated computer and cyber science standards available for all K-12 schools, as well as leveraging the ND University System to offer cutting edge computer and cyber technology courses. The complete integration of 21st-century skills across all grades, Kindergarten through Ph.D., creates a foundational platform for the workers of tomorrow.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How

AMERICA’S ONLY STATE BANK Is Helping Grow Ag Tech

O

ne-hundred years ago, a man by the name of A.C. Townley, a former politician with the Socialist Party, organized the NonPartisan League in hopes of forming a farm organization to protect the social and economic position of the farmer. That Non-Partisan League gained control of the Governor’s office and established the Bank of North Dakota, the only state bank in the country, on July 28, 1919.

Today, Eric Hardmeyer, President and Chief Executive Officer, and the team at Bank of North Dakota is still fulfilling its mission to “deliver quality, sound financial services that promote agriculture, commerce and industry in North Dakota.” As part of the Steering Committee for Grand Farm, Hardmeyer and BND are playing an integral role in the future of agriculture in the state.

Q: Why is North Dakota the spot for Grand Farm to come to fruition?

A: We can take our lead from what we did with the drone industry in Grand Forks and others and realize that North Dakota does have things available and appropriate for North Dakota to be a leader.

Whether that be in the case of the drone industry and now the Grand Farm, which is taking advantage of technology and the cranial capacity that was generated through a few things that we developed in North Dakota. It’s taking advantage of some of the local talent that we have and spreading that out over the ag industry.

Q: How do you see Bank of North Dakota’s role with Grand Farm?

A: I’m on the Steering Committee so one of the things I’ll be working with and doing is looking at governance and policy issues. Beyond the initial Grand Farm, I’ll be looking at how this would play out in North Dakota,

the country and the globe as we look toward more automation across the board and how the Bank of North Dakota may, at some point, be uniquely positioned to assist financing ventures in and around this space.

The Bank of North Dakota has been here for 100 years to allow North Dakotans to control their own destiny and promote agriculture. In fact, that’s part of our mission statement that FARGOINC.COM

85

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

Venture Capital Loan Program The New Venture Capital Program administered through the North Dakota Development Fund and offered through the Bank of North Dakota provides funding for earlystage companies. It is available for companies that can show proof of completed product development and market acceptance. This funding program allows financing through debt and equity investments.

was given to us 100 years ago: promote agriculture, commerce and industry. Our roots at the Bank of North Dakota are deeply meshed with agriculture. As we think about the Bank of North Dakota, what we do and how we play in this space, that’s the reason we were created.

When I look at this opportunity for Grand Farm and to take farming to another level of sophistication, it’s appropriate for the Bank of North Dakota to play a role because that’s why we were created.

Over the years, the Bank of North Dakota has morphed, changed and evolved with the economy and global issues, including technological advancements and sophistication with financial instruments. Our goal is to advance the state using the resources we have, which is unique to the country. We’re the only one of its kind in the nation that uses, quite frankly, tax player resources and deposits that, in most other states, flow back out to Wall Street or hedge funds.

In our state, they flow to us and back into North Dakotans to advance businesses, education, home ownership and agriculture.

86

MAY 2019

To learn more, go to bnd.nd.gov/business/ venture-capital-fund.

Q: Venture capital is limited in our state. BND is working with the Department of Commerce, the North Dakota University System and private venture capital firms.

Talk about the work that's being done here and why this is important.

A: That really goes to the heart of what we’ve been working on for the last three to four years and that is, again, trying to understand the whole capital ecosystem as it relates to money available for entrepreneurs.

We were created to advance the state in different areas and economic development and financing economic development is our primary role.

We have for many years, had our own venture capital fund.

It’s called new venture capital fund, a legislature authorized program. Some of this really had to do with just sitting down with many different folks engaged in economic development and trying to understand what the roadblocks are for entrepreneurs.

How can the Bank of North

Dakota play a role in diminishing those hurdles?

We really looked at the whole spectrum of programs and found several problems and issues with it. A lack of a continuum of programs, a lack of understanding by the entrepreneurial community in terms of what’s available and how to access it. The lack of money for true seed capital is where we saw the real gap.

We’ve been working hard with the Commerce Department to really look at that issue and say, ‘How do we use this limited resource that we have available in venture capital, which today is somewhere between $50-60 million that we have available in the development fund and the venture capital fund to really spur investment for entrepreneurs?’

The work we’re doing right now is working with Commerce.

They have the development fund. We have the venture capital fund. How do we work together to really put together the best program possible for entrepreneurs and understanding that there’s going to be successes and there’s going to be failures but learning

to appreciate that without failure, there’s little chance for advancement? And also trying to get the decision makers in the state to understand that you sometimes have to risk your investment to succeed and sometimes you don’t always succeed.

Q: You have the chance to reach almost every business and farm in North Dakota.

What’s your message to them about how you can help them and their goals?

A: I should say that the real partner with the Bank of North Dakota and the large part of our success is the community banks across the state working with us in delivering our programs.

The ability to use the bank and our ability to leverage with the community banks make this for a win-win in that entrepreneurs all need banking services.

You touched on research. There are a couple bills still working its way through the legislature that allows for university system research or private research to really advance North Dakota’s economy. Our view on that is that both of those approaches are important. They’re important because, as I’ve talked about,

it’s imperative, and most people understand this, that North Dakota needs to really look at diversifying our economy. When you get married to agriculture and energy, you’re really subject to commodity prices up and down and they really can play havoc with your revenue.

We’ll all come to appreciate that a strong diversified economy is really where the state of North Dakota needs to work on. I think research dollars going to the universities and private sector are all very important things in our journey to get there. It’s been a journey that I’m familiar with. I’ve been here at the bank for almost 35 years and have experienced much of this myself.

I really realize how important it is for North Dakota to commit itself to diversify our economy.

That includes adding value to those major industries, including agriculture and energy. Instead of being commodity based, if we can go down or up the value chain and create more revenue by having vertical integration, that’s what we need to do there.

Ag loans available through the Bank of North Dakota • Drought Disaster Programs • Ag Commodity Export • Ag PACE • Beginning Farmer Chattel • Beginning Farmer Real Estate • Biofuels PACE • Envest • Established Farmer Real Estate • Family Farm Loan • Farm and Ranch Participation • Farm Operating Loan Program • Farm Real Estate Loan Guarantee Program • First Time Farmer Finance • FSA Guaranteed Loan Purchase • Livestock Waste Management Go to bnd.nd.gov/ag to learn more.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How

THE VALLEY PROSPERITY

Is Promoting Automation And Research In The State

A

s the CEO and Board Chair at Border States Electric and the CoChair for the Valley Prosperity Partnership, Tammy Miller is well-versed in the economic development happening with technology in our state. As she and the rest of the Valley Prosperity Partnership push to create more economic diversity in the state, Miller answered some questions for us about where the state is going.

Q: The Valley Prosperity Partnership backed the bill that would create an economic diversification research fund in support of North Dakota’s two research universities: UND and NDSU. Why is that important to our state?

A: The State of the Heartland: Factbook 2018 report concluded that innovation is the core driver of prosperity in the 21st century. There is a proven and strong relationship between an economy’s ability to convert its science and technology

88

MAY 2019

assets into new or improved products, processes and services and the creation of economic opportunities and higher-paying jobs.

A recent study by The Association of University Technology Managers reports that between 1996 and 2015, academic technology transfer delivered more than 380,000 inventions, 80,000 patents, supported more than 4.3 million jobs and contributed $591 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product. The report further stated that 70 percent of university innovations were

licensed to startups and small companies.

We are privileged to have two exceptional research universities in our state with North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota. The Valley Prosperity Partnership (VPP), a coalition of business, higher education and economic development leaders in the region, would like to see greater investment in university research to help strengthen our economy and attract and retain talent in our state. Effective research will also help us diversify our economy and reduce our

I N N OVAT I O N

Bill SB 2282

dependence on energy and agriculture.

About Tammy Miller Miller is the CEO and Board Chair at Border States Electric. Border States is 100 percent employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and is the seventh largest electrical distributor in North America. The company has more than 2,600 employeeowners, provides products and supply chain solutions to the construction, industrial, and utility markets, has more than 100 branch locations in 22 states and is headquartered in Fargo. Tammy joined the company in 1991 as Accounting Manager and served in a variety of roles with increased responsibility. She was named CEO and Board Chair in 2006 and has led the company to unprecedented growth.

In 2007, she was the first woman in the 100-year history of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) to serve as the Board Chair. Along with all of that, she’s also the Co-Chair for the Valley Prosperity Partnership.

A statewide scientific poll commissioned by the VPP in 2018 found that 79 percent of respondents agreed that the state of North Dakota should invest research dollars in new industries in addition to agriculture and energy to diversify the economy.

A solid and predictable base of funding is required to ensure North Dakota’s two research universities attract and leverage transformational research opportunities, often in collaboration with businesses, to generate sustainable, diversified economic growth.

Q: As automation becomes more widespread, educating the workforce for high tech jobs is more important than ever. What role does our higher education system play in ensuring workers are getting that education? Do you think that education is solely responsible on higher ed. or should the private sector play a role in helping fill that education?

A: Automation is an exciting and effective way to increase capacity and allow our workforce to be more productive, have higher quality jobs and be safe.

Higher education plays an important role in continually preparing each generation of students with strong technical skills who are ready to work in a more automated environment with higher paying jobs.

Education in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines will prepare students for rewarding careers in key growth sectors of North Dakota’s economy.

The Valley Prosperity Partnership backed SB 2282 would have provided $45 million in Legacy Fund earnings for university research to strengthen and diversify the state’s economy and attract and retain workforce. It failed to pass legislation this year.

HB 1333 The VPP also supported the Legacy Investment in Future Technology (LIFT) bill that passed as a $15 million zero and low-interest loan program to support entrepreneurial activity in the tech sector.

The business community also plays an important role and must work collaboratively with higher education on curriculum and program development along with providing work experiences that offer opportunities for students to see relevant applications and engage in problem-solving. It is essential for higher education and the business community to work together to ensure our workforce is equipped with technical skills as well as critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills.

Q: What is the most exciting research and work being done in our state, in your opinion?

A: Leading-edge research is being conducted by our research universities, business innovators, entrepreneurs and others in our region and state. A few highlights include advanced polymeric materials, crops that have industrial uses, including sustainable materials, neuroscience research related to drug addiction and Alzheimer’s disease, infectious diseases, oil recovery, carbon capture and

GRAND FARM

autonomous systems, to name a few. In our industry specifically, we see breakthrough technology in North Dakota impacting our customers in the oil and gas, agriculture and utility sectors.

Successful research in our state is extremely exciting and helps us attract and retain talent, provides higher paying jobs and creates a more diverse and sustainable economy.

Q: What is our state still lacking in terms of research being done?

A: According to Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, “the Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, impacting all disciplines, economies and industries.” Technology is rapidly changing with artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, energy generation and storage, advanced computing and more.

With limited resources, our challenge is to find and invest in opportunities with the highest return on investment and impact on our economy. Investments are especially important for developing opportunities associated with key technology sectors with high potential in North Dakota, including value-added agriculture and energy, autonomous systems, health care and advanced computing/big data. A solid and predictable base of funding is required to attract and leverage transformational research opportunities to generate diversified economic growth.

With additional investment, we could build on the more than $250 million in research already being conducted by our two research universities FARGOINC.COM

89

GRAND FARM

About Valley Prosperity Partnership

and enhance our statewide competitiveness.

In terms of research being done, what work do you think is essential for the public sector and higher education to complete? Also, what work is important for the private sector to work on?

A: The VPP and a growing coalition of businesses, business groups and community leaders believe that UND and NDSU are important economic drivers in our state. Research conducted at UND and NDSU helps to sustain and boost our competitive advantage in agriculture and energy. Their research also leads to innovations in other sectors that translate into new economic opportunities, a more skilled workforce and higher-paying jobs for North Dakotans.

The VPP’s focus has been to encourage and promote research and development that is aligned with industry sectors that strengthen and diversify our region’s and the state’s economy. Sustainable funding will require new and improved ways to invest in research and it will require building better and sometimes new ways for universities and businesses to collaborate to advance our shared goals.

Q: Thanks to the work being done now, North Dakota is going to be transformed.

What’s your vision for North Dakota for 30 years from now?

A: In 30 years, the state of North Dakota will be ranked number one for its attraction and retention of talent, sustainable and diversified economy, innovative use of technology and results.

According to its website, the Valley Prosperity Partnership aims to develop a unified and shared vision for high value and sustained economic growth.

It is comprised of economic developers, NDSU and UND, private sector businesses, community leaders and others who recognize the importance of collaboration and leveraging resources.

They will do this by: • Leveraging and promoting existing resources • Creating new programs and resources that address gaps or limitations • Strengthening public and private sector partnerships and communication • Building upon the accomplishments of the Red River Valley Research Corridor • Strategically influencing current and future public policy • Developing clear and transparent performance measures to gauge impact Learn more at valleyprosperity partnership.com

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How

UND'S WORK WITH UNMANNED AVIATION

Is Shaping Agriculture

W

hile UND is not an agricultural school like NDSU, through their aviation program and research in unmanned aerial systems, they are playing an important role with Grand Farm. We talked with outgoing UND President Mark Kennedy about how Grand Sky and Grand Farm are more similar than just in name, the role of higher education in 21st-century jobs and why North Dakota’s economy needs this ag tech innovation.

terms of pollination. They’re finding that through unmanned surveillance, we can figure out a better, more efficient and complete way to have our fields pollinated. That’s a key part of their growth.

Q: Universities are handcuffed by funding. Talk about why funding research efforts are important to the state.

A: If you look at the two big industries that drive this state – agriculture and energy – both of those are among the most likely to be automated. The research that I have shows that we’re second behind only Alaska in both jobs within the oil patch and agriculture.

We’re also big into autonomy, sensors and how do you make sure the data coming in is clean and accurate, how can it be transmitted in a safe way, isn’t lost and is protected… That requires computational scientists with the skill to parse through and find exactly the right data points that are going to help us make better decisions. These all feed into many applications, including agriculture.

As someone automates those industries, they’re likely to start where the cost of labor is the highest and besides Alaska, we stand the risk in North Dakota to having our jobs be automated going into the new economy.

Who’s going to create that new economy where those new 92

MAY 2019

jobs are going to reside? When jobs are eliminated, there’s somebody else picking up and advancing that technology.

That’s why I think that, of all the states in the union, North Dakota has amongst the highest interest in making sure we’re ahead in this technological race that everybody is engaged in.

Q: Tell me about some of the research being done on your campus in terms of autonomous vehicles.

A: We focus on autonomous vehicles with a heavy strength on autonomous aircraft and that is being applied, in many ways, to agriculture. In just one case, for example, is Bee Innovative, a company from Australia coming here and partnering with us in

Q: There is a lot of comparison being drawn between Grand Sky and Grand Farm. Do you see any similarities and can you talk about those comparisons?

A: I think one of the comparisons is that there’s an unbelievable ecosystem for unmanned in Grand Forks with the Air Base,

the nearby National Guard Base, Grand Sky, research that we’re doing at the University with Northrop Grumman and General Atomics joining us and a supportive environment in the city, county and state level. All that pulls together that we have a phenomenal ecosystem.

Having toured, for example, John Deere Electronic Solutions, much of the technology that drives the large agricultural equipment company in the world is resident in Fargo. If you go to Bobcat, similarly, they are making great advances in the internet of things and how we use data and how we use predictive methods in how we intervene to repair a part before it causes you to stop that machine in the field.

Between those two companies alone combined with the agronomy and the agricultural knowledge of NDSU, combined with the unmanned expertise at UND and residents in Grand Forks, you pull all those together and there’s no reason why North

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

2017 State New Economy Index The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation put this index together and it uses 25 indicators to measure the extent to which state economies are knowledge-based, globalized, entrepreneurial, IT-drive and innovation-oriented.

Below is the ranking of North Dakota and some other states.

STATE

2017 SCORE

2014 RANK

1. Massachusetts

96.6

1

2012 RANK 1

2. California

84.7

3

4

3. Washington

84.5

4

3

12. Minnesota

72.6

13

13

38. North Dakota

51.8

36

34

41. South Dakota

49.5

42

43

Dakota couldn’t and shouldn’t be the leader in automating agriculture.

Q: Elaborate more on what you view UND’s role with Grand Farm and ag tech in our state.

A: One of the things to emphasize is that the university has partnered with the College of Engineering and Mines to commit to the university 10 million dollars worth of funding to bring in high-end computational researchers that would have a better understanding of artificial intelligence, internet of things, how you use 5G communication technologies, cyber protection of data and analysis of that data.

This is going to be a bigger pool of the types of science that’s going to be applied to every field, including the questions being faced at Grand Farm.

Q: What role does higher education play in preparing workers for these high tech jobs?

A: First of all, we have a situation where there’s a lot of economic angst that drives a lot of the division in the country because technology’s benefits have not been evenly spread. Some benefit greatly from technology and have phenomenal careers

and some are feeling left behind in technologies. From an education perspective, we need to work hard in expanding the benefits of technology more broadly across the population.

We’re also finding that it’s not just a high school graduate coming out, going to college for four years and getting a degree and having one and done. It’s having lifetime learning because technology is advancing so fast that even if you were trained in technology, you’re going to need to get an update in a regular interim cycle. Universities need to really pivot and meet those long-term training needs, which may not be traditional means but other forms of credential or learning.

In the research area, you need to have discoveries and not just with commercialization.

Commercialization is important but you perhaps heard me talk about that commercialization is the red zone when you’re in the final 20 yards of trying to get it into the endzone. Unless you’re investing more in the green zone, the first 80 yards, and put ideas that are within reach of being commercialized in the red zone, you’re going to lose.

If you look at other studies, the

state’s new economy index put out by Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has shown that we, as a state, have been falling behind from 34th in 2012 to 38th in the nation in 2017. In many ways, that’s a function in not having that investment in green zone research, not having the discoveries or discoverers upon which to build new companies.

Although we rank in the top 10 in terms of new companies starting up, we rank near the bottom 10 in terms of whether they’re fast-growing, attract venture capital and ultimately become a public company.

leave with them?

A: I would say that someone is going to provide a more fully autonomous farm. Whoever does and is at the leading edge of that will create jobs and opportunities in that region.

If you want your children and grandchildren to be able to find opportunities so they stay home in North Dakota instead of just coming back for the holidays to visit you, we need to be investing in innovative ways that have a potential for mushrooming into future opportunities for employment for our citizens, children and grandchildren.

If you don’t invest in it now, you may not know it and feel the impact now, but five to 10 years from now, as some of the other states that are having a higher concentration of that green zone investment and research pull away, in terms of their diversification, economy and picking up those new economy jobs, it’ll be perhaps too late then to say, ‘We should have leaned further into research and making sure that all of our employees and citizens are prepared for this new economy that is galloping toward us fast.’

Q: When it comes to Grand Farm and the future of our state with technology, what message do you want to FARGOINC.COM

93

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How

AUTOMATION Is Affecting Insurance

P

lug and Play is an international innovation platform that has tech centers in 26 locations around the world. They recently announced that they are coming to North Dakota. This tech accelerator will play an integral role in helping fund ag tech companies to get off the ground. North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread was a crucial part of getting Plug and Play to the state. While most people probably don’t think about it, insurance is an industry that’s going to be heavily affected by automation.

We talked with Godfread to discuss what’s being done to prepare for the change and what Plug and Play coming to North Dakota means for the state.

Q: Tell us about Plug and Play. What do we need to know about this?

A: Many people across the state and in the region are familiar with tech accelerators, which exist to provide consultation and seed money for new ideas and technology thereby accelerating their growth. Plug and Play is different than your normal accelerator. Plug and Play is more of an incubator on steroids.

With their model, they leverage partnerships with thousands of corporate partners across the 94

MAY 2019

globe and bring business and technology together. At the end of the day, Plug and Play has access to the largest corporate partners and cream of the crop in startups. It’s a win-win and it’s coming here to North Dakota.

Fun Fact

Having an established, world renowned incubator with global partnerships could change the landscape of our entrepreneurship ecosystem.

An unintended benefit of being North Dakota’s Insurance Commissioner and Chair of

Guinness World Records’ recently named Robert Cornegy Jr., a New York City councilman, as the world’s tallest male politician.

However, Godfread disputes this claim as when he played basketball for the University of Northern Iowa, he was nearly 7 feet tall.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Innovation and Technology Task Force is that I am experiencing the Plug and Play model firsthand as it is home to the largest InsurTech Accelerator in the world. While the entity has 26 locations worldwide, it became apparent their business model is missing one piece.

The missing piece was a vertical focused on AgTech and a presence in the heartland of America. As we all know, North Dakota is home to a robust startup community driven by organizations such as Emerging Prairie. I reached out to a delegation of folks across North Dakota and coordinated a trip to California to allow them to see Plug and Play firsthand and begin exploring a partnership based on agriculture innovation with North Dakota.

This region has been founded on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Our agriculture heritage has ingrained in us a sense of hard work and the ability to adapt and solve problems. Plug and Play will be another tool to take our economy to the next level.

Partnering with Plug and Play provides an avenue to partner with global leaders in innovation and creates a showcase of our capabilities in North Dakota.

As our state emerges into a national and international player in the energy and agriculture arena, it is imperative we utilize this momentum to create economic diversification to other sectors of our economy.

Plug and Play here will focus on, but not be limited to, agriculture technology. This is an important opportunity in North Dakota

96

MAY 2019

Learn more about Godfread and the Insurance Department at nd.gov/ndins

as our agriculture community is known for continuously innovating to stay ahead in its global marketplace. Plug and Play will allow that innovation to reach new heights and diversify what’s possible in our advanced agriculture economy.

Q: What do you hope this will do for our state?

A: Plug and Play is an unprecedented opportunity for our state and region to advance our leadership in developing and commercializing agricultural technologies (AgTech). Partnering with the largest innovation platform in the world will create new opportunities within the North Dakota and the regional startup community. While the focus is mainly on AgTech, the global Plug and Play network creates connections to other sectors important to the North Dakota economy such as energy, transportation, unmanned systems, data management and health care, which are essential for our region’s growth and development.

For me, one of the most important components of this initiative is the opportunity to accelerate economic diversification and to build an ecosystem of innovation funding in North Dakota. The creation of this vertical in North Dakota will bring new capital, new players and new opportunities to our start up community in the region.

A key challenge for our region is attracting capital to support our entrepreneurial community.

Plug and Play locating in North Dakota will support the entire region and is a chance for our region to engage in the global conversation on innovation.

Q: Automation will create a whole host of new problems when it comes to insurance.

What’s being done now to address those problems?

A: The term, “problems” is not quite accurate. I believe the insurance industry is experiencing growing pains as it is generally a slow mover in adapting to technology.

Insurance is not something a person thinks about every day but when it’s needed, we are glad it’s there. Technology and innovation continue to drive significant change in the economy and how people “work” is going to change over the next decade. But as opposed to a threat, it is a fascinating opportunity.

I am fortunate to chair the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Innovation and Technology Task Force, which is charged with keeping insurance regulators up to speed on innovations in the marketplace. As part of our mission, we are looking for ways to adapt to the new technologies and create solutions to the inevitable bumps while upholding consumer protections.

Already, work is underway to evaluate existing laws and develop strategies and a vision of changes to make sure we can keep pace with market.

As we all know, this transition will likely be too slow for some and too fast for others. I think of how horse and buggies were disrupted by the automobile.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the problems of the day focused on how cars and horses can co-exist on the same roadway, and how do we insure these new automobiles.

(Yes, insurance existed back then!) By 1912, automobiles outnumbered horses making the horse and buggy obsolete.

Today, we cannot remember a time without cars or our current system of auto insurance. We are on the forefront of a new era, this time between manned and unmanned vehicles and I am willing to bet if we look 10 to 20 years into the future, our insurance system will look different.

Q: In terms of insurance, what are some things that the average person might not think of when it comes to automation?

A: An example is autonomous vehicles. How will this type of transportation be insured? If two driverless cars collide, how is fault determined? Similarly, in the not-to-distant future, autonomous vehicles AND driver operated cars will share the road, changing a model that’s existed for over a hundred years. While these are some challenges, other technologies bring about opportunity.

For instance, automation, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence will decrease claims processing times. After a storm, companies will deploy drones to assess damage quickly. This will shorten the adjustment period, enable faster payments and get recovery started faster for consumers. Automation will enhance the accuracy of rating risk with drone-deployed, detailed mapping. A company will accurately rate your property, leading to better quotes and less gaps in coverage. Technology is a tool and, at the end of the day, it should equally benefit the consumer and the industry.

I N N OVAT I O N

7 REASONS You Need To Care Why Plug And Play May Come To North Dakota Plug and Play is here to “actually make shit happen”

98

MAY 2019

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

T

he number one innovation platform and accelerator in the world is anticipating its next new location may be in an unlikely place: Fargo, North Dakota. So why should you care?

Silicon Valley. Abu Dhabi.

Jakarta. Beijing. Amsterdam.

Fargo?

With 22 locations around the world, including places as far away as Silicon Valley, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta, Beijing and Amsterdam, Fargo may seem like an unlikely spot. However, when you know the history of how they came here and what they hope to accomplish, Fargo could make perfect sense. Michael Olmstead, Global Head of Corporate Partnerships for Plug and Play had a simple answer on why they may come here.

“Serendipity,” said Olmstead.

“We have a couple partners that

FARGOINC.COM

99

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

Runs more than

50

industry-themed accelerator programs a year

Plug and Play

2018 By The Numbers

Works with more than

280

corporations around the world Accelerated

1,107

startups around the globe are local to North Dakota with Bremer Bank and Bobcat. We’ve been working with them for a couple years in Silicon Valley.

They’re very comfortable with us as a partner… I remember several occasions where our main contact Melissa (Carmichael, Strategic Innovation Manager) from Bremer Bank was talking about the region and there being a big opportunity.”

James Leiman, Director for the Economic Development and Finance Division at the North Dakota Department of Commerce, went out to Plug and Play’s headquarters in Silicon Valley and did a reverse pitch to them to come to North Dakota.

After many discussions, it was agreed upon and while it’s not 100 percent solidified, Olmstead is very confident that they will be opening a location in Fargo.

So what the heck is Plug and Play?

As the largest global innovation platform, Plug and Play does a lot of different things. They run 50 different accelerator programs in 15 countries at 30 locations and they also invest in about 250 startups every year, which makes them the most active investor in the U.S. based on the number of investments.

The innovation platform in Fargo would be industry specific to ag tech. How the program works is, Plug and Play has corporations and partners all around the world that they team up with and the corporations dictate the focus of the program from a technology perspective.

Let’s run a scenario to illustrate how this works. I own Fargo INC tractor and I want to invent a tractor with a bathroom in it but I don’t have the time or resources to create it on my own. I’ll team up with Plug and Play who will do a two-month call for applications where startups will apply to the program. During this call, they’ll get anywhere from 250-1,000 applications. Plug and Play then does their due diligence to narrow it down to roughly the top 10 percent of applicants. From there comes selection day.

On that day, startups will present to the corporate partners and be voted on. If you are one of the 10-15 startups that has the best idea for a toilet in a tractor, you are then put into a three-month program that’s comprised of weekly mentorship sessions, business model refinement sessions, pitch polishing and a whole slew of other education.

“The three months are really meant to vet each other and potentially come up with a pilot like a short test where they can validate the technology and use case,” said Olmstead.

“If that works out, it can roll into a commercial deal. This is about making business happen between the startups and corporates involved. It’s also to get these startups additional funding and to get additional venture capitalists interested.”

FARGOINC.COM

101

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

Why do I want to be involved in Plug and Play?

Oh, and if that wasn’t good enough, if you’re startup is chosen on selection day, Plug and Play requires no equity and will even give you an investment, office space, clout and access to their partners.

“If you’re able to get selected, it’s an amazing experience for your business,” said Olmstead. “The tough part is getting selected.

It’s not like just because you applied, you’re going to get in.

You go through a rigid sourcing and evaluation process, which isn’t only Plug and Play. It is the corporate partners. They are the stakeholders.”

Judging by some of the companies that have gone through their accelerator programs, he isn’t lying. Some of the startups that they’ve worked with include LendingClub, PayPal, Dropbox, Zoosk, Danger and hundreds of others. Their model and process have turned them into the most successful accelerator in the world.

“We find the startups that have that technology, we put them in the room together and we see how those interactions take place and the successful interactions lead to Plug and Play investing in that startup,” said Olmstead. “It’s a win-winwin. The corporate gets the technology, the startup gets the customer and we get the insight of whether to invest or not.”

What would they be doing for North Dakota?

In any given year, Plug and Play will work with 30-40 startups that they’ll accelerate. In North 102

MAY 2019

Dakota, access to venture capital is very limited. In fact, 50 percent of all venture capital money is deployed from Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California.

“We want to build that bridge between North Dakota and Silicon Valley,” said Olmstead.

“We want to bring that capital to North Dakota and to be that connective tissue.”

With locations all around the world, Olmstead has seen the success of this program firsthand. In Stuttgart, Germany, they opened a Plug and Play despite the fact there were no startups but there was Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Bosch. They have since created the largest mobility platform in the world because of those corporate partners. Olmstead views North Dakota as the same with large players in ag tech with corporations like Bobcat, John Deere and Microsoft.

“In the case of North Dakota, we feel we have a tremendous pull and opportunity with these corporates,” said Olmstead. “It’s really tough to attract startups outside of North Dakota or the surrounding cities if you don’t have a reason to be there. We have that reason.”

How will they help the Grand Farm?

Plug and Play will really be a way to vet companies to get involved in Grand Farm. Considering the fact that, last year, they accelerated 1,107 startups, their average check size was $147,000 and they had 280 corporate partners, Plug and Play is an expert in choosing successful startups.

Accelerated

562

startups in the U.S.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

plugandplaytechcenter.com

Plug and Play

2018 By The Numbers

22

locations around the globe

Hosted

$147,000

792

Average check size

events in their Silicon Valley HQ Hosted

1,565

startup-corporate deal flow sessions

“When you think about Grand Farm, you have to have innovators,” said Leiman. “We have a lot of corporates that are innovative. Then you have disruptive technology and you have new software applications, tools and autonomous systems.

All of these things come together for precision ag and are aligned to Grand Farm.

More or less, you’re effectively accelerating the Grand Farm by having this in place.”

One of the main goals of Grand Farm is to create a strong and vibrant ecosystem around ag tech. Plug and Play already has industry-specific innovation platforms like Fintech, Insurtech, mobility and real estate and construction at their locations around the world. They recognized the potential of ag tech in North Dakota.

“You’re only as strong as your ecosystem,” said Olmstead.

“That ecosystem is complex and there are a lot of different stakeholders and different types of entities but you need the government, corporates,

startups, venture capitalists and innovation junkies in place. But once you have that ecosystem, it’s very tough to pull apart.”

What do you need to know to be successful with them?

What the corporate partner is looking for in a startup really varies depending on its need, but Olmstead has noticed that there are a couple of common mistakes he sees startups make as they go through their program.

“As a startup, there’s a tendency to try and be all things to all people. I think the first piece of advice I would give startups is to be honest and know that it’s OK to say that you can’t do that or no, that’s not what we do or we don’t have the technology to apply to that case study. I think that’s the first thing because startups get pulled in a lot of different directions and are really focused on getting that first customer but you end up wasting time and hurting your own business saying yes to everything.

“Also, if you’re starting a

company, make sure you have dedicated co-founders and a good team because you’re only as strong as your people in the early phase. Sure, the technology and market matter but it’s really the people and execution. I’m sure this is very cliché and it’s in all the books but it’s really the team that’s going to make this vision happen. There were plenty of ideas to do search engines back in the 90s, but only one became Google and that’s because of the team.

“If you’re starting a company, make sure your co-founders are solid and you have an engineer or two. You can’t have a oneman show and you can’t have a company with no engineers.

Those are fundamentals. We would not even invest in a company if they didn’t have a co-founder and a technical person on the team.”

What does this all mean?

Innovation is great.

Entrepreneurship is wonderful.

Blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard it all before. You’re asking yourself, why do I care? Well, think beyond yourself, you selfish butthead.

This is about the future of the state and how we’re all growing.

“The key takeaway here is we have a rapidly growing and evolving tech community in our

state,” said Leiman. “This is the augmentation necessary to really help our region realize its full potential from an innovation, entrepreneurial and financial perspective.”

Ok, maybe you’re not a butthead.

Maybe you should be thinking about yourself and what you can get out of Grand Farm and Plug and Play potentially coming to North Dakota. Well, Olmstead has good news for you.

“In order for North Dakota and the corporates, startups and anyone who stands to benefit, they really need to come together. When we come together around these central topics like ag, you can actually accelerate business.

“Imagine if you have the corporate, investor and startup in the room and you got Plug and Play and the government entity supporting that, that’s how you can actually make shit happen. You get everyone in the room together and you can truly accelerate the visions of these entrepreneurs. Startups have great ideas but the most valuable resource they have is time. If you don’t get to market fast enough, if you’re too slow, if you can’t raise that round of funding in time, these are all things that will impact you as you make your vision.

“If you have the ecosystem in place, you can gain time. You can speed up the process. You can get to market faster. You can raise that round of funding quicker. What we hope to do is band everyone together and get behind one cause.”

FARGOINC.COM

103

BREMER BANK OP-ED

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

THE RIGHT TIME, PLACE AND PARTNERS

North Dakota and ag tech are a perfect pair

Interestingly enough, the banking industry is facing some similar challenges: The world is changing fast, and we’re working to define and strengthen our place in it.

At Bremer Bank, we’ve chosen to embrace this period as an opportunity to define our future, and to define it with purpose. We’re focusing on what we’re good at, and on doing it even better. We’ve rebranded, launched a new and modern website and challenged ourselves to stay relevant to our customers in every way.

One of those core customer segments is our farmers.

104

MAY 2019

Agriculture has been central to Bremer Bank since our founding in 1943. For 75 years, we’ve been proud to work elbow to elbow with the people who, for generations, have grown our food and strengthened our communities. Bringing value to these customers today means finding new and innovative ways to help them achieve their goals.

That means taking our agriculture and digital strategies to the next level. As is true with our commercial customers, we know that technological solutions can help solidify and grow the financial footing of so many of our farm customers.

By investing in advancing agricultural technologies, we hope to help strengthen the industry as a whole.

All these things taken together – a commitment to our ag customers, a rapidly changing industry and a focus on innovation– led us here: To Emerging Prairie and Plug and Play, a perfect and unique

merger of agriculture technology and entrepreneurship.

Living our dedication to innovation and our agriculture customers, we established a corporate partnership with startup accelerator Plug and Play in 2018, accelerating ag tech on behalf of our region. As the nation’s 11th largest ag lender, our participation with Plug and Play has included working with entrepreneurs to refine their offerings and go-to-market strategies, helping to identify technologies that could be beneficial for our farmers and supporting startups that have the strongest potential to help those farmers succeed. In fact, Bremer Bank is the first and only financial services organization in Plug and Play’s foodtech space.

We are also a founding partner and supporter of Emerging Prairie, a Fargo-based organization that focuses on connecting and celebrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

About Bremer Bank Bremer Financial Corporation is a privately held, $12 billion regional financial services company jointly owned by the Otto Bremer Trust and Bremer employees.

Founded in 1943 by Otto Bremer, the company is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, and provides a comprehensive range of banking, mortgage, investment, wealth management, trust and insurance products and services throughout Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Clients include small businesses, midsized corporations, agribusinesses, nonprofits, public and government entities and individuals and families.

BREMER FINANCIAL CORPORATION

I

f you’re involved with agriculture, you know that recent headlines have been grim. Tariffs, flooding, the trade war and more – there’s no question: The agriculture industry is weathering an uncertain storm while in the midst of significant transformation.

About Plug and Play

Bremer Bank is glad to be a supporter and partner in these two pioneering organizations, and we are excited to watch Emerging Prairie’s Grand Farm initiative take form.

We believe that innovation in agriculture is crucial. Precision technologies lead to operational efficiencies and greater certainty.

Data leads to actionable intelligence. With the right technology, good crops can become great crops. Bottom lines can increase. The harvest can go further. Markets can shift.

Innovators can find themselves in a strong enough position to perfect and refine their products. Overall, our farmers can do better, which means our communities do better. Our entrepreneurs can do better, which means our economy does better. And when this is true, we all do better.

What better way to start than by engaging local talent, entrepreneurs and students; than by connecting large companies with new technology developed right here in our fields? Together, we can collaborate and foster a meaningful impact on the global economy.

Plug and Play is an international innovation platform and accelerator that has locations in places like Jakarta, Guadalajara, Berlin and Zhengzhou, China. They are opening a location in Fargo geared specifically for ag tech. As the largest innovation platform in the world, they connect technology startups and the world’s largest corporations. Bremer Bank established a corporate partnership with them in 2018 and this means that Bremer is at the table with new, innovative businesses at the forefront of industry technology. Bremer also hopes to identify new technologies that could prove beneficial to farmers and to support those startups.

If you want to learn more about them and how you can get involved in the Fargo location, go to plugandplaytechcenter. com.

Periods of uncertainty can be unsettling. But it is precisely then that we should be looking to our innovators not just as we define our worlds of tomorrow, but work to define them in the best possible way.

Bremer Bank has served North Dakota for generations, and we know that this region is uniquely positioned to have a global impact on the agriculture industry. We are thrilled to amplify this work as North Dakota leads for the world.

Let’s go out and do it together.

Jeanne Crain President and CEO, Bremer Bank

I N N OVAT I O N

"Our test at the end of the day is how successful are the citizens we serve."

How NDSU is a 21stcentury research leader

S

ince its founding in 1890 as the North Dakota Agricultural College as a research land-grant institution, NDSU has become one of the top-100 ranked overall research universities in the nation due to scholarly productivity in agriculture as well as many other fields. In fact, the National Science Foundation ranks NDSU as the leading research university in its five-state region.

While its mission has substantially increased beyond the original scope of just agriculture, it still exists to serve the citizens of North Dakota through research and education.

It has done that by expanding its research capacities beyond just agriculture, although that still remains their leading source of research. As the region becomes more known for ag tech, NDSU is playing a vital role in ensuring the research for tomorrow's

FARGOINC.COM

107

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

technology is down in our backyard. And NDSU President Dean Bresciani hopes to keep the university front and center with its agricultural mission.

Q: There are some bills going through the legislature that would fund some research.

Why is that important for a vibrant economy?

A: Our state historically benefited and suffered by being a bimodal economy based on two commodities. Any economist will tell you that’s a very fragile economic base.

We just experienced that four years ago when both those commodity groups tanked in terms of price. For North Dakota to be a contemporary and successful state, we’ve got to diversify the economy.

One of the places we can do it, ironically, that complements one of those commodity industries would be the UAS zone, smart farming zone and things like that. Those are applications that can serve, in a sense, as a pilot for more applied use of UAS technologies and related technologies, whether it’s GPS or anything down to microelectronics.

We have a chance to diversify an economy with an emerging industry that complements existing industries. It’s kind of a perfect alignment of the stars.

We’re very fortunate to have two research universities that can be a backbone to that ... and combine the power of two universities that would support what would otherwise perhaps be too grand 108

MAY 2019

of a vision and make it something that’s really achievable.

Q: With automation comes jobs being replaced, how does higher education come in to educate the workforce for tomorrow's jobs?

A: One of the things that we read about in contemporary and scholarly literature all the time is most of the jobs of the future don’t even exist. When we hear about job replacement, there’s a certain irony to have that conversation in a state with 30,000 vacant jobs. First off, nobody’s going to be put off the job and left homeless on the streets of Fargo. We’re also creating a new knowledge that creates the new businesses that create new jobs. I suspect a more realistic problem is finding the people to fill the jobs.

Q: There's a lot of discussion over higher education's role in education for the future of jobs. Make the case for why a research university is still essential to maintain a strong economy.

A: In spite of what the media and some pundits say that you don’t need college anymore and you can do everything online, virtually every study of employer satisfaction with graduates is not that they’re lacking in the technical expertise that you can argue that they can or can’t get online. They’re lacking the critical thinking skills, communication skills and group work skills that you can’t replace through other mechanisms other than traditional higher education.

Our test at the end of the day is how successful are the citizens we serve. We’re not pursuing research for the sake of research. We’re pursuing research that changes people’s lives.”

What we know nationally is that both in percentages and raw numbers, more people are pursuing higher education than ever before in American history.

While the media might lead you to believe that colleges and universities are dying and are a thing of the past, interestingly enough, consumer behavior is suggesting something very different. Employer behavior is also suggesting something very different. Employers want people with college degrees. It’s the first cut in any search process that I’m aware of. Now whether that’s a two-year, four-year or graduate degree, I don’t mean it has to be any one of those specifically but what we know is that a college education has more value and more people are pursuing it than ever before in history.

I take the position: is college worth it? It’s never been worth it more than it is now and obligatory than it is now.

Q: How often is NDSU talking to the ag tech and ag industry about what’s happening in the classroom?

A: Constantly. That’s the whole notion of agricultural extension

and agricultural research.

Because we’re an applied science field, we have to be responsive to our consumers who are the farmers and ranchers and not just in North Dakota but this region and the nation.

If we’re not in touch with our producers and our consumers on an international basis, we fail very quickly. That is core and central to what we do as a research university. Ag research is being in constant day to day communication with the people who are going to grow the crops and the people who are going to harvest the crops ... and the consumers we’re selling the crops to.

Q: The general public doesn’t know about the leading experts you have on the faculty. Talk about some of those leading experts you have on staff.

A: A great example is that we have a researcher who is studying wheat diseases that won’t be in the United States for five to six more years. Those diseases are already very visible in Africa. Why she’s studying in

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

World Leading Research A good example on how important NDSU is to the ag industry is to look at Neil Gudmestad, a University Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology who’s recognized as the world’s foremost potato expert. He is NDSU’s first fully funded endowed chair, which means Gudmestad’s position and research is funded permanently through that endowment. What’s most impressive is that $6.3 million were raised from private industry to fund this endowment. The potato industry decided that Gudmestad’s research work is crucial to their work and they put their money where their mouth is.

110

MAY 2019

Africa is that she has to have the solution to those diseases before they get to the U.S. half a decade from now because our industry can’t afford the loss of productivity when that particular disease comes to the United States. It will come to the United States so we have to be prepared for that with a solution.

Q: Why is now the right time to do this?

A: I hate to over utilize the analogy of a perfect alignment of the stars. We have an industry that needs it. We have an emerging statewide focus and priority on a technological solution, particularly, and most visibly through UAS and one of the national test sites that we’ve already established. We have business leader support for the initiative and things it’s trying to accomplish. I think sometimes, we get too wrapped up in the Grand Sky part and forget that it’s just a tool for getting us down the road to a level of discoveries

and applied utilization of technology that doesn’t exist right now.

Frankly, we have a governor and legislature who understand that this is a huge opportunity for our state and we’re uniquely positioned to pursue this opportunity. We’re one of the seven national test sites for UAS systems. We have an ability to move this initiative forward faster and we have a reason and need to because of the agricultural application.

We have a capacity to because of UAS use at NDSU and research at UND as well as the microelectronics research that’s being done in this area.

In fact, NDSU has been ahead on this topic well in advance of the national test bed being established. NDSU has faculty who, for years, have already been applying this technology, which is why Microsoft came to NDSU to establish the first large scale “smart farm” in the nation.

We are the perfect storm but we’ve got competitors so we have to take this and run with it otherwise we might miss the opportunity and it might not ever exist again.

Q: What do you want to say to this audience about Grand Farm?

A: Our test at the end of the day is how successful are the citizens we serve. We’re not pursuing research for the sake of research.

We’re pursuing research that changes people’s lives. When it comes to agriculture, it’s a real easy measuring stick. We know exactly whom we need to be serving and if our farmers and ranchers of this state are being successful, we’ve done our job.

If we're not being successful, they haven’t. We know that on a year to year, month-to-month and, often time, day-to-day basis because all we have to do is walk out the door and see what’s happening in our state agriculturally.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How

TECHNOLOGY Is Being Accepted

C

oming from a farming background from Williston, N.D, Nick Horob understands the day to day struggles of farmers. After studying at the University of Minnesota, he spent three years working for ShoreView Industries, a private equity firm. After leaving ShoreView, he spent eight years as a farm finance consultant, working with farms in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Now, as the founder of Harvest Profit, he’s out to help farmers run their farm as a successful business. We chatted with him about how farmers are adopting new technology and what this means for their ROI.

all areas of the farm (technology included).

Q: There is a shift in agriculture as the old generation is being replaced by the new generation. What does that mean in terms of innovation in agriculture?

A: The younger generation of farmers have grown up with technology in all aspects of their lives. This familiarity with tech will drive technology adoption on the farm and I’m seeing evidence of that in our business. It does come with challenges though. As farms pass from one generation to the next, the younger generation often takes on quite a bit of debt as they grow into the farm. This debt compresses profit margins, forcing them to be very mindful of spending in

Q: Being a farmer is a unique job as you’re an entrepreneur. Talk about the struggle of being a farmer and handling the business of farming but also having to do the day to day work of farming.

A: Producing a good crop is dependent on, outside of the obvious weather factor, timely and effective planting, fertilizing, spraying and harvest. From the outside looking in, this is what most people think makes up the entirety of a farmer’s job. But, in reality, they don’t know that a farmer also wears many other hats: HR, risk management, accounting, capital allocation, landlord relations, lender relations and many more.

112

MAY 2019

About Harvest Profit Harvest Profit is a farm management software that allows producers to track their P&L, manage their farm and helps with grain marketing. harvestprofit.com

At the end of the day, farming is a manufacturing business but it’s lower margin (over the longterm) than most manufacturing businesses. So, the majority of farms don’t have the resources available to have full-time employees cover all of the main functions of the business. What I’m seeing is that more and more farmers understand that they can’t just focus on operations.

They need to learn or bring in resources to help them manage other aspects of their farm. I like to say that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link so any business owner, farmers included, should focus on fixing their weakest links to build a long-term prosperous business.

Q: What sort of feedback are you hearing on technology?

Are people excited for this new tech or are they hesitant?

A: Most farmers I know are definitely excited about technology but they are skeptical when it comes to ROI promises. A lot of the skepticism comes from the fact that they are bombarded with marketing messages such as, “Spraying ABC chemical will cost you 1 bushel of soybeans, but will gain you 3 bushels!”

“shift” in ag. I do think that more and more farmers are realizing the complexity of their business and are comfortable bringing in expertise to help manage areas where they are weak.

I do think that there’s room for AgTech to help farmers define the probabilities of their decision making. Humans tend to judge their decisions based on the results of the decision.

This resulting bias can lead to indecision and reactive decision making.

Farming has a lot of similarities to gambling. If you have the best hand possible in poker, you will still lose a material amount of the time. In farming and poker, there are rarely certainties and often only probabilities. A person needs to “play” the probabilities. New methods of capturing data on the farm are making it much easier to analyze the ROI (or lack thereof) of on-farm decision making.

Farmers that conduct their own on-farm trials (supplemented with industry/university studies) will be able to arm themselves with the data necessary to fight the cognitive biases that complicate probability-based decision making.

It’s also hard to test the ROI of many types of farm technology.

For instance, we at Harvest Profit make farm management software focused on cost of production and profitability analysis. Our customers use our tools to implement the best practice of tracking their numbers like nearly every successful business in another industry does. It’s hard to splittest the ROI of this best practice.

Most farmers that I talk to are excited about technology on the farm but are continuously skeptical of ROI promises.

Q: How will the Grand Farm affect North Dakota as a whole in terms of automation in agriculture?

A: Autonomy capabilities are advancing at breakneck speed.

My hope is that the Grand Farm will help address the challenges that present themselves when trying to implement autonomy on the farm. Two big challenges in my mind are: 1) solving the logistics of autonomy (eg. how to move from field-to-field) 2) the labor requirements of monitoring autonomous fleets of equipment.

Q: What is the next needed shift in ag?

A: I don’t think there’s a needed

I’m hopeful that the Grand Farm will work to address the realworld complexities of autonomy.

I N N OVAT I O N

Bushel CEO and CoFounder Jake Joraanstad, and Ryan Raguse, Chairman and Co-Founder, at their headquarters in Downtown Fargo.

How

TECH STARTUPS

Are Changing Farming 114

MAY 2019

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

W

alk into Bushel’s office in Downtown Fargo, you might think you’ve stepped into a tech startup in Silicon Valley. You’ll be greeted with an open office concept with standing desks, couches, glass meeting rooms and the requisite ping-pong table. While Bushel is about 1,800 miles from Silicon Valley, the work they’re doing to bring new and exciting technology to the agriculture space is helping make the Red River Valley the new Silicon Prairie.

Planting the seed for Bushel

Bushel hasn’t always been in the ag space. The company has actually been around since 2011 as Myriad Mobile. After looking for a sustainable and consistent business model, they settled on Bushel after listening to their customers.

Co-founders Jake Joraanstad and Ryan Raguse and the rest of the team at Bushel built an app for a sugar beet company where farmers got scale tickets. It was a huge success and 100 percent of the farmers were using it. They then replicated that for grain elevators and companies by initially working with Arthur Companies and Minn-Kota Ag Products.

This app became the Bushel platform, which allows grain elevators to more effectively do business with farmers through company branded apps and other tools. Each Bushel-powered app allows growers to do things like quickly accessing their tickets, contracts, commodity balances and much more.

Perhaps the biggest purpose of Bushel is to organize the processes needed to send North Dakota products across the world.

“What’s missing is what you might call the digital infrastructure,” said Joraanstad.

“From a farm to the guys who buy your grain to the people who process it or export it, that data flow is almost entirely paper or paper being manually entered by humans. There is

FARGOINC.COM

115

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

ND Farmer Demographics The U.S. Census of Agriculture keeps a wide swatch of stats about farmers. Below is a brief breakdown of the demographics of North Dakota farmers.

PRODUCERS

41,904

SEX OF PRODUCERS MALE

29,588

FEMALE

12,316

PRIMARY OCCUPATION FARMING

23,103

OTHER

18,801

DAYS OF WORK OFF FARM NONE

20,244

ANY

21,660 1-49 DAYS

3,521

50-99 DAYS

1,611

100-199 DAYS

2,818

200 DAYS OR MORE

13,710

YEARS ON PRESENT FARM 2 YEARS OR LESS

1,556

3-4 YEARS

2,377

5-9 YEARS

5,276

10 YEARS OR MORE

32,695

AGE GROUP UNDER 25 YEARS

644

25-34 YEARS

4,000

35-44 YEARS

5,129

45-54 YEARS

7,428

55-64 YEARS

12,292

65-74 YEARS

8,274

75 YEARS AND OVER

4,137

an opportunity with Bushel as we build out our network to help our customers who are grain companies, exporters and processors to do business better with each other through digital infrastructure to circulate this information in a more efficient manner so it can cut out costs in the supply chain. It can make us even more efficient to compete against the likes of China and other countries around the world.”

of a farmer not being tech savvy is definitely debunked, this new generation taking over will only encourage more technology to be embraced.

Once the app was released to the world, it quickly snowballed.

“There is a pretty decent gap between the generation that operates and the one that’s coming up,” said Raguse.

“One of the questions that we always seem to run into is, are farmers older? Even the co-ops think that sometimes.

The reality is that we get amazing adoption, even in those age groups. They all have a smartphone and know how to use it. When it’s something that’s valuable, they’ll log on, sign up and use it. The farmers are pretty tech savvy.”

“Bushel started as a team of two or three people working inside of the company,” said Joraanstad. “It quickly grew and fast-forward to 2019, we’re basically at 100 customers that have signed onto the platform and have over 2,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada that have access to this tool. The team is 110 and over half of those people are working on the product. As we focus on agriculture, we’re almost exclusively doing ag work now.”

Overalls and smartphones

There is a shift going on in farmers as the younger generation takes over farming operations. While the image

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 34 percent of the nearly 3.4 million farmers in the U.S. are 65 years or older.

Over the next couple of years, there will be an even greater shift as younger farmers take over.

When it comes to technology in agriculture, another common concern from farmers is that most tech companies don’t understand the real-life struggles the farmers go through every day. One of the big reasons for launching Grand Farm in North Dakota is that the

FARGOINC.COM

117

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

Technology will be one of the enablers that can keep the family farm alive. Even in my dad’s case, it’s a struggle to find the help he needs, getting the information and making decisions.

We’re affected by world economics. Technology is probably one of the only things that can help the family farm survive.” – Ryan Raguse tech people understand the struggles of farmers as a lot of them grew up on a farm.

That is even true for Raguse.

His dad owns a farm in Wheaton, M.N., and Raguse goes down and helps his dad farm every year.

“Not everything, but a lot of the technology (that farmers have worked with) has had a difficult struggle to prove that value,” said Joraanstad.

“I think farmers at one point were sick of trying new things that weren’t going to bring as much value as a lot of the other places they could be investing. Why would they spend tens of thousands of dollars on software that they do all the manual entry on when they could buy a grain bin to store their beans in

118

MAY 2019

longer and get a better price?”

“Technology will be one of the enablers that can keep the family farm alive.”

Since North Dakota’s formation in 1889, it has a longstanding history of technology in agriculture. With the background of large-scale Bonanza farms that would be tens of thousands of acres of farms, they had to employ a large-scale workforce and create mechanical automation in agriculture.

“I think the economies of scale are such that farmers are great entrepreneurs.

They’re great pushers and adopters,” said Raguse.

“Farmers have a ‘whatever it takes’ mindset. As a result

of this mindset, farms have adapted to fit the situation they’re put in.”

“Whatever they have to do to make it work, over the many years, they’ve become larger to do that. There have been periods of time in the past where farms got really big like the Bonanza days. They were 20,000-30,000 acre farms but they broke up. The smaller farms happened and the reason why that came about is that they had access to newer technologies that they didn’t have previously. We’re talking about mechanical technologies so you didn’t need to have 100 laborers.

You and your kids could go farm.”

Most farmlands have been in a family for years. In fact, in North Dakota, you have to be a family or an individual to own farmland. Over the years, there’s been a consolidation of farms as fewer people are farming more land. So what does growing technology mean for the family farm?

“Technology will be one of the enablers that can keep the family farm alive,” said Raguse. “Even in my dad’s

The Bushel platform provides producers instant access to their scale tickets, contracts, commodity balances, prepaids, cash bids, futures and more. The platform’s feature set and capabilities continue to grow, with a team of 110 people in Fargo.

DAN FRANCIS

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

case, it’s a struggle to find the help he needs, getting the information and making decisions. We’re affected by world economics. Technology is probably one of the only things that can help the family farm survive.”

Why North Dakota?

From Bobcat to Steiger Tractor to Phoenix International, the history of technology in agriculture in the Red River Valley has been well documented throughout this magazine. However, what Grand Farm is hoping to do is to plant a flag in the ground that this area will be recognized for ag tech around the world.

“All those things are the seeds to say, ‘We have the right to at least try and claim that,’” said Joraanstad. “I think we have a technical advantage because of the history, location, variety of crops and the types of things growing in North Dakota are significant enough that you can test a lot of theories and technologies right here without driving across the country or flying across the world.”

When you think of automation, it’s easy to just think of planting and harvesting with an autonomous tractor.

However, the mission of Grand Farm goes much further than that. They’re working on

120

MAY 2019

Grain facilities keep their brand in front of their producers through Bushelpowered mobile apps.

I N N OVAT I O N

bushel.ag | facebook.com/getbushel | twitter.com/GetBushel

How to find the workers

With a reported 15,000 open jobs in March in North Dakota, workforce is one of the biggest struggles facing North Dakota. To address that concern, the Workforce Development Council has worked to understand this problem and what they can do to help solve the problem. They address five different areas (technical skills gap, need for youth engagement and earlier and more diverse career exploration, nursing and healthcare technician shortage, support for populations with barriers to employment and need for net in-migration of North Dakotans.)

Right in the study, they address how automation will help solve our workforce shortage. They want to incentivize engagement and automation and recommends…

“The Council recommends that digitization and automation of business processes be an important part of the solution to address the worker shortage by remodeling and reimplementing the “automation credit” eliminated during the 2017 legislative session.

The credit should target industries with significant labor shortages and not be limited to manufacturing, should increase the tax credit, and should expand allowable investments to include, for example, consulting services to aid in automation of a manual business process.”

To learn more about this, go to workforce.nd.gov

DAN FRANCIS

the full operation of a farm, which ranges from fueling the vehicles to the delivery of the grain to the elevator down the road. This is important to the future of agriculture as a whole but it is also important to the state for another reason.

“In North Dakota, the other reason this matters is that we, unlike other places, have unemployment that is so low that farmers don’t have the hands and help they need every year,” said Joraanstad.

“In my opinion, a farmer in North Dakota who wants to continue to grow and maybe be a bigger size farm, they need to look at automation as a solution.”

While workforce plays a problem in the future of the growth of farms, so too does the weather.

“One of the things that I’ve seen that’s difficult to companies is to experiment,” said Joraanstad. “There are a lot of problems in agriculture.

One of them is that in North Dakota, and most parts of the country, you only get one shot a year to figure it out. It’s not like you can do a constant iteration.”

Grand Farm will fill that spot for experimentation and allow companies to test ideas on a small scale before rolling out to the mass market.

FARGOINC.COM

121

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How the

GIG ECONOMY

Has Arrived To Drones gig e·con·o·my noun

a labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs.

Q: Where is Aegisflow at in terms of launching?

A: September!

T

he gig economy is having a massive effect on almost every industry. Now AegisFlow is taking that business model to drones. AegisFlow is an online marketplace for drone pilots to upload, stream, share and sell photos, videos and 3D modeling content. Drones are being used in agriculture, but they are close to becoming even more impactful and CEO Anthony Molzahn has some thoughts on where the industry is going.

122

MAY 2019

AegisFlow is nearing the end of alpha testing and moving into beta production in May. Once our beta testing completes, AegisFlow will be made available to the general public. Thereafter, a formal launch of version 1.0 will likely take place at Interdrone in Las Vegas at the beginning of September.

Q: Drones are just touching the surface of what they can do with agriculture. What do you think the future holds from drones and agriculture?

A: It might be hard to believe, but drones will play a vastly different role than what is generally perceived today. What do I mean? Repeatedly capturing detailed imagery on thousands of acres isn’t a reasonable task for a drone or of the commercial drone pilot commanding the vehicle. Nor is it a reasonable task to continually air drop chemicals, seed or fertilize on those same acres.

Instead, consider the big picture of a farming operation; think about all of the decisions the farmers, consultants, agronomists, seed dealers, insurance adjusters and any other third parties make to encourage an operation’s success. Let us weave unmanned vehicles into the operation and augment the services of the aforementioned.

One example of this: dispatch a drone to snap photos and videos of suspicious locations an agronomist identifies in areas not feasibly accessible… it seems that trudging through seven-foot corn on a balmy July day may not be the best use of an agronomists time, especially if there are tools available to take on some of the workload.

Yes, drones can be (and are) used to capture detailed imagery, as well as be used to seed, apply chemicals and fertilize. The future of drones in agriculture will be decided by the critical farm operation teams to gain the insight on exactly when a drone is going to actually improve the bottom line.

I N N OVAT I O N

How it works

GRAND FARM

1. Login after creating an account at aegisflow.com.

2. Keep your profile up to date on who you are, what industries you fly in and how much you charge for the work you do.

Q: Tell me about what future you see Aegisflow playing in the future use of drones in agriculture?

A: Largely predicated on the assumption that a given farming operation wants to integrate drones into their workflow, AegisFlow is there for that operation team to connect with and contract a commercial drone pilot in their area to fly. In this way, AegisFlow’s purpose is to provide visibility of the pilots to those looking for them to do great work.

There are other cases where someone in the farming operation will have hired, contracted with or even themselves become a commercial drone pilot.

AegisFlow’s content sharing and streaming services were built specifically for the pilot to present drone-captured information to key members as needed.

Q: Talk about Grand Sky and how the work they’re doing will help shape drones in North Dakota.

A: Grand Sky’s team and partners are bright, passionate and dedicated to fostering a healthy business-system for unmanned aircraft use cases.

“North Dakota + Drones” is now a relatively common connection made by those interested in this space across the country and the world. Grand Sky has done a lot of the legwork to make it so and it appears they are just getting started.

Q: Grand Farm will have a lot positive things stem from it but what do you think will be the largest and farthest reaching things to come out of it?

A: What would be super cool is

3. Maintain your portfolio.

Upload and set values for any photos and videos you’ve created.

4. Connect your bank account so you can instantly get paid when folks purchase work from your portfolio.

5. Share your work. Drop in a link of your portfolio into your social media spheres or directly to clients and show folks what you’re capable of!

6. Other features you can take advantage of include content organization, instant messaging and a community idea board.

aegisflow.com

if everyone who reads this issue of Fargo INC! would send in their own response to this question to Brian Carroll of Emerging Prairie.

Idea validation and insight from the community is important, especially right now where Grand Farm is just getting started.

how to automate a given set of tasks or roles? Every time we have figured out how to automate a fragile and complex or repetitive task, we have been smart enough to respond diligently with what to do next.

Every time.

each farming operation, as it has been done since the inception of farming thousands of years ago, will continue to grow their reliance on outside agencies of providing expert-level services to grow more quality food faster and for cheaper.

Now for a less safe answer. An autonomous farm removes needless bottlenecks each farming operation faces every year. Sometimes, this means automating a manual or repetitive task someone is doing, therefore enabling them to spend more time on skillbased decisions. Sometimes, this means replacing an entire role. Now, if you’re reading this thinking, “See! Drones are going to ruin the world by taking all our jobs!” that’s an interesting thought, but you would be incorrect.

Grand Farm will create more rewarding and fulfilling work for everyone involved in every farming operation. If you still aren’t convinced, then it’s a good thing Grand Farm will test this on forty acres. There, we will see what we need to do to prepare ourselves for a future where one third of the Earth’s land will be hands off.

The use of drones and, ultimately, the partnership of agriculturally savvy commercial drone pilots is now one of the newest outside agencies a smart farming operation has available to make use of. As mentioned earlier, the future of drones in agriculture will be decided by the critical farm operation teams to gain the insight on exactly when a drone is going to actually improve the bottom line.

Surely, you wouldn’t want to willingly suppress a human’s ability to expand their knowledge-base and skillset after you’ve already figured out

Q: It’s interesting to me how you are bringing the gig economy to drones. Do you think that will come to other occupations within the agriculture industry?

A: Every year, a farming operation is able to take on more work while simultaneously becoming more granular with each decision made. This means

Now is the time for every farm operation to answer these questions for themselves, “What are the most important tasks to automate first?” and “When those tasks are automated, how will we reallocate our team’s time for other, more important work?”

FARGOINC.COM

123

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How

DOT Is Leading The

Way in Automation in Agriculture

M

DOT

any people may think of automation as a concept that’s still 10-20 years away.

However, Dot might be the best real-life example of automation in agriculture today.

Leah Olson, the CEO of SeedMaster and Dot, along with her companies are playing a crucial role in the future of automation in agriculture. Headquartered in Saskatchewan, Canada, Olson took some time to answer some questions about what Dot means for the industry.

124

MAY 2019

I N N OVAT I O N

About DOT Founded by Norbert Beaujot, a farmer and professional engineer, Dot Technology Corp. has built powered u-shaped frame that’s built to provide a path for shortline manufacturers to fast track their transition into autonomous farming by offering them the opportunity to engineer their equipment to be Dot-ready.

The Dot-ready implement can then be loaded directly onto the U-shaped frame to become one with the powered platform.

Seedotrun.com has some great videos showcasing it in action.

How it works 1. Dot has a variety of manufacturers that it works with to produce equipment that’s compatible with Dot. Right now, Dot can operate as a spin spreader, sprayer or air seeder.

2. Once Dot is connected with the equipment, the farmer then uses a computer program to generate a path for each field.

3. Once the path is farmer approved, Dot will then autonomously complete that path.

4. If there are any concerns, Dot will automatically stop.

Dot can also be stopped via tablet, remote control or a separate remote e-stop.

GRAND FARM

What has been the initial feedback from your customers?

Dot Technology Corp. is excited about their limited release of the Dot A-U1 power platform for spring seeding 2019. With that being said, feedback from customers is yet to be seen.

What we can say is that farmers, and potential customers, are extremely engaged in the idea of autonomous farming. Even those who approach the subject with apprehension, quickly change their perception of autonomous farming as soon as they see that Dot is not just a concept, but a functional piece of equipment.

This technology is great but it’s going to be useless unless the end user, which is the farmer, in this case, can afford it. How far out are we from this being affordable and mainstream?

When placed head-to-head with a tractor, the A-U1 platform has been priced competitively. The cost savings is proven by the significant downscaling in power required for the unit, implement size and materials needed.

Farmers who are considering making the transition to autonomous farming will also experience the savings that come from the continuous development of Dot’s artificial intelligence capabilities. As Dot becomes capable of making similar decisions to that of a farmer in the field, there is less of a need for

supervision and the associated labor costs. Dot reduces greenhouse gas emissions and creates efficiencies such as approximately 20 percent savings on fuel, labor and equipment capital costs, resulting in a reimagination of how farming is and can be done.

Additionally, the Dot-ready implements offered by other short line manufacturers will be less expensive (without sacrificing quality) by virtue of their design; being carried instead of towed. This removes the added costs of extra steel, hitches, wheels, axles and miscellaneous parts required to tow an implement.

With the continual growth in short line manufacturers offering Dot-Ready implements, farmers can perform more onfarm activities autonomously and continue to realize savings in equipment investments and labor costs on their farms.

To make this technology mainstream, it’ll take early adoption from some farmers. Have you found that farmers are excited about this technology?

Farmers are very excited about autonomous farming. This evolution in technology will give them the opportunity to focus on the success of their farming operation, reduce the taxation on their bodies from hours spent in the cab of a tractor and increase their quality of life by

giving them more time to focus on family, friends and other activities.

As technology advances on the farm, how are farmers keeping up with the work that needs to be done on these machines?

For example, farmers just had to know about mechanics to fix a broken down combine, however, as technology advances, it is becoming more and more complicated. Are you concerned about their being the proper IT support in rural communities to help fix problems when something breaks down?

Mechanically, the platform is similar to equipment that farmers currently have on their farms. For the most part, this aspect should be quite familiar to them. That being said, we have a team of Product Support Specialists who play a huge role in ensuring customers will receive the service they require to keep their equipment up and running. In areas that are software or IT related, Dot Technology Corp. has the ability to service the equipment remotely using their strong team of developers. The team is trained and ready to troubleshoot and diagnose issues from afar.

When the average person looks at this, and automation in general, they probably think of jobs being replaced. What would you

FARGOINC.COM

125

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

seedotrun.com

26,400

agriculture-related jobs went unfilled across Canada in 2014.

The same study also predicts that number will increase to

114,000

unfilled jobs by 2025 – more than 25 percent of the entire agricultural labor force.

-The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC)

say to them to get them excited about automation?

Although this is a common concern, one of the main objectives of the founder, Norbert Beaujot, was to create a means of attracting a younger generation to the ag industry.

As technology continues to evolve at a fast pace, many people entering the workforce are interested in technologydriven occupations. By creating a farming implement that operates autonomously, Dot Technology Corp. is creating a new area of employment within the agricultural industry.

How many partnerships does Dot have? Are you confident that more and more manufacturers will work with Dot? Dot Technology Corp. currently has three manufacturers who are building Dot-ready implements. Of these three, Dot can operate as a spin spreader, sprayer and air seeder.

Additionally, there are a few additional implements that 126

MAY 2019

are in the early testing phases, including a roller, harvest cart and coulter. Dot Technology Corp. is involved in a variety of discussions with other prospective partners regarding the development of other Dotready implements and over the months and years to come will continue to add to the variety of tasks Dot can perform.

What’s next for DOT? Dot was created from a place of innovation and the pursuit of infinite possibilities. It looks to challenge what is by fearlessly moving towards changing the way we perceive traditional agricultural practices. As the concept of autonomous farming continues to explore a variety of farming applications, opportunities will continue to present themselves beyond the boundaries of farming with an end goal to simplify a multitude of tasks performed by heavy equipment.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

Where Are We At Right Now With

AUTOMATION?

W

ith products like flow monitoring solutions for air seeders and dry fertilizer applicators along with several new products in the works, Intelligent Ag is creating equipment to maximize the efficiency of farmer’s operations.

This joint venture between AGCO Corporation and Appareo has quickly been growing over the last couple years. With automation rapidly becoming mainstream, we talked with General Manager Joe Heilman about the current status of automation in agriculture and why North Dakota is the right spot for Grand Farm.

128

MAY 2019

completely and fully automated.

Auto-steer, for example, is a widespread technology that automates parts of the operation very reliably. It had a fairly slow uptake initially, but as costs came down and more value was shown by the tech, it is a standard piece of technology on virtually all tractors today.

The industry is already automating many key areas of the operation. Many combines are self-adjusting now, something that only expert/

HILLARY EHLEN

Q: In order for automation in agriculture to be mainstream, it needs to be affordable. How far away are we from automation being mainstream and fully embraced by farmers?

A: Affordability is not really the key word. I would rephrase it slightly to say “in order for automation in ag to be mainstream, it needs to provide value that essentially outweighs the cost.” In many cases, automation is already mainstream, it just isn’t

About Heilman Joe Heilman grew up on a farm near Rugby, N.D. and then went to North Dakota State University where he graduated with degrees in Business Administration and Accounting in 2009. He then served in the ND State House of Representatives before being named the General Manager for Intelligent Ag

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

experienced operators were able to do adequately throughout the day. With labor shortages, particularly with the skills to do this job well, combine harvesters with the ability to take ANY operator and help them perform like experts is a huge value to a farm owner or manager.

I believe farmers are already embracing automation in certain areas, and will continue to embrace it more and more.

We won’t just “flip a switch,” though, and everything will be completely autonomous. We need to develop the sensors, self-awareness systems, artificial intelligence systems, etc...in stepwise fashion. These technologies are not likely to come in one big package all at once, but rather in smaller, iterative solutions over time.

That’s where companies like ours are finding success.

Q: One of the reasons that Fargo is able to plant its stake in the ground when it comes to automation in agriculture is because of the joint cooperation and partnership between companies. Talk about that mentality of helping each other out and how you are partnering with Appareo.

A: Fargo has so many strong roots in the ag industry. It really is a powerhouse with large dealership chains headquartered here, each of the big three Original Equipment Manufacturers (John Deere, CNH and AGCO) have a connection to Fargo, and all the other business surrounding the industry, it’s an ideal place to be. There seems to always be a willingness to collaborate and move the industry forward.

At Intelligent Ag, we’re able to work with Appareo Systems to leverage their deep pool of 130

MAY 2019

engineering, experience and research capabilities to help solve the problems we identify in the industry. We work hand in hand with them to design and test our product ideas and we then take the products to market.

Appareo also manufactures our products. Leveraging their high quality standards from the aviation side of their business, we have very high quality products.

Q: In terms of automation in your plant, talk about how automation is affecting your business model and also affecting the lives of your employees.

A: Automation allows us to be competitive in a global market. With higher costs of labor in the U.S. than in other countries, we have to leverage some automation to remain competitive. This does not mean we hire less people. On the contrary, this allows people to focus on matters of greater importance and solve even greater challenges. Automation is good at replacing processes that are very repetitive, so I believe this frees people up to create even more value.

Q: Finding the right talent for these high tech jobs has to be difficult. Talk about your recruitment process and how you handle it when you’re fighting for the same employees as some of these other companies.

A: Yes, it is a highly competitive job market. As a small business growing rapidly, it is difficult to compete with large compensation packages alone.

It comes down to people and the culture we’re able to build.

People are motivated by money, yes, but culture and a fulfilling mission is a major attraction. We have an amazing team and this is our biggest differentiator in the market.

Q: What products are you working on now that you’re excited to see launched?

A: I can’t speak about too many of our future products specifically. This is our first year in full-production of a product line we call “Recon SpreadSense®.” This is a blockage and flow monitoring product for boom style fertilizer applicators. These machines are HIGHLY utilized (often covering 20,000-30,000+ acres per year) and performance is very important. You can learn more at intelligentag.com/ products/1504/spreadsense.

We are currently developing more technologies in the fertilizer application segment, as well as other areas.

Q: Where do you see farming being at in 50 years? Do you think we’ll ever fully reach a reality where a farmer is managing everything from the office?

A: Yes I do, and I don’t believe it will take 50 years to get there. I don’t believe we will completely go away from being in the field, farmers will just spend their time doing different things. Rather than operating equipment, much or all of that will be done by the machines and the systems that support them. Farmers time will not be spent on making the right decision in the field aided by more and more automation. Soil analysis, moisture management and other important data will more efficiently flow into systems that will initially be managed by the insights of the farmer manager. More and more of that will be automated as well, but I believe there will always be a human in the loop at some point to confirm decisions or put them into action.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How

GIANTS SNACKS Is Improving

Employees Lives And ROI With Automation

H

Q: Tell us about the work that you’re doing with automation in your plant.

A: Much of our automation at Giants is in place to reduce the menial tasks that are not enjoyable or fulfilling to an employee while also driving efficiencies and quality. All of our packaging lines have case erectors and case sealers. At this point, I have a hard time imagining what it would be like without these pieces of equipment, having to employ people to form and tape our boxes. Very few people would want to do this job and I feel like the turnover in a position like that would be ridiculously high.

All of our packaging lines have scales that automatically weigh very precisely how much product 132

MAY 2019

TOM SPIEKERMEIER

eadquartered in Wahpeton, N.D., Giants Snacks might seem like an unlikely candidate for automation but the company is proving to be a pioneer. We talked with Tom Spiekermeier, the Operations Manager at Giants, about how automation is actually making their company and their employees’ lives better.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

to put in each individual package, as well as packaging machines form, fill and seal. These two pieces of equipment are something that I would say I took for granted as they are standard in high-volume food packaging operations in the U.S. That is until I was recently in a factory overseas and saw how their workers were using pan scales to get the correct amount and then filling pre-made packages by hand before manually running the package through a sealer. Some of our packaging lines have case packing robots that will pack our standard regular slotted carton cases. In our production areas, we use automation to move product throughout the processes, as well as automated batching systems.

Q: From a business perspective, why did it make sense to invest in automation?

A: Obviously, labor costs is a big one. But labor issues are up there too. Being located in Wahpeton can prove difficult for staffing being that Wahpeton is a small town but has a lot of 134

MAY 2019

manufacturing businesses all vying for the same candidates.

As mentioned above, we try to automate the simple tasks that people don’t like to do every single day. People like to be challenged, at least somewhat.

If they’re not, they will get bored and not want to come to work every day and eventually leave for more fulfilling opportunities, which could hurt us if we have to shut a line or two down because we’re understaffed. This can then snowball. For instance, if we require other workers to pick up their slack and work more hours then those workers could get frustrated and the problem just escalates.

This could potentially lead to us missing orders and cost us sales, as well as damaging business relationships with our customers. Giants is built and runs on quality. Automating certain tasks allows our employees to focus on more quality-focused tasks to ensure we are always producing the highest quality product.

Q: Right now, automating is an expensive undertaking

I N N OVAT I O N

A brief timeline of Giants Snacks

GRAND FARM

giantsnacks.com

1958 Bob Schuler brought sunflower seeds to the Red River Valley.

Late 1970s Schuler’s son Jay started Sigco Research, which set the stage for GIANT Sunflower Seeds.

Late 1980s Jay Schuler and Gary Fick partnered at Seeds 2000, an exclusive breeding and growing partner of GIANT Sunflower Seeds.

1995 Jay Schuler and a business partner started GIANTS 2004 GIANTS becomes the official seed of the Minnesota Twins.

2008 Built new facility in Wahpeton.

2016 Expanded product line to include Pistachios 2018 Expanded product line to include Cashews

and it can take several years for the investment to pay off.

However, in order for it to become mainstream, it takes some early adopters. Why did you invest in it now?

A: As our founder, Jay Schuler, always says, “If you don’t innovate, you die.” We’re always looking for ways to improve, whether it be new products or new processes or improving efficiencies through automation.

If we have a high level of confidence of an automation project and its ROI, then we’re not afraid to move forward.

There’s always an opportunity cost that if you invest in something now, something better will come along and you’ll second guess yourself that maybe you should have waited.

But you could do that forever as there is always something new and better coming out.

Q: When people think of automation, they mostly think of people losing their jobs. However, in reality, it can create higher paying jobs with the new technology and overseeing the equipment.

What have you seen in your experience with launching the new technology?

We’ve never let anyone go due to automation.

When a position has essentially been eliminated due to automation, those people move into new roles, typically with more responsibility and in turn higher pay.”

A: We’ve never let anyone go due to automation. When a position has essentially been eliminated due to automation, those people move into new roles, typically with more responsibility and in turn higher pay. As we grow and become more automated, our workforce is becoming and will continue, to become more skilled while decreasing the ratio of man hours to productivity.

I envision down the road that our plant could produce two to three times as much with approximately the same number of employees, but of higher skill and with the right automation investments. When people think about people losing jobs due to

automation, I don’t think they are completely wrong. Automation does create the need for higher skilled and higher paying jobs but it reduces the need for lower skill jobs.

From a social standpoint, this concerns me as not everyone is cut out to be a machine operator, forklift operator, engineer, etc.

Some people need jobs that are highly repetitive and require very little decision making while these are the jobs that we reduce through automation.

Even though these are typically harder positions to keep staffed, and I’ve discussed how these are the tasks that we try to reduce through automation, there is a population of people that need FARGOINC.COM

137

I N N OVAT I O N

The

ADOPTION OF AUTOMATION in Agriculture

138

MAY 2019

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

I

n 1991, Geoffrey Moore wrote a book called “Crossing the Chasm” that changed the way tech entrepreneurs look at the way technology is adopted by the public.

This book expounded on the idea that, in terms of consumers, marketers often break them up into five different categories: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards.

HILLARY EHLEN

About Dahl The President and CEO of Amity Technology, Dahl followed in the path of his grandfather and entered into the ag tech field. After graduating with a B.S. degree in business administration from UND, he received an M.A. in philosophy of religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In 1977, he started Concord, Inc. with his brother Brian that became the leading manufacturer of air drills. In 1996, Concord, Inc. was sold to Case Corporation.

After selling Concord, he started Amity Technology, which produces sugar beet harvesters, defoliators and beet carts. amitytech.com

Howard Dahl – the founder of Amity Technology and the grandson of E. G. Melroe, the founder of the Melroe Company, which developed the Bobcat Loader – might have a better way of classifying these consumers.

“There are three types of people,” said Dahl. “Those who make things happen. Those who watch things happen. And those who say, ‘What happened?’”

In “Crossing the Chasm,” Moore went into detail about how the toughest transition to make is going from early adopters to early majority.

When you apply this concept to the full adoption of automation in agriculture, this model still holds up. As the technology becomes more mainstream, so too will the use of the equipment. Right now, Dahl believes that we are in the innovators phase of this technology adoption.

“The innovators are, at the most, two-three percent of the population of any industry,” said Dahl. “They’re the ones who say, ‘I want to be the first to do this.’

You have to have innovators to try various things. There will be bugs but they have to be patient with the things that are going to work out.”

Consumer demand has to be there before anything can go mainstream. However, Dahl and Amity Technology has shown that the demand is there from farmers for automation in agriculture.

“We had about 20 key sugar beet farmers in for a focus group for a day and on their wish list was an autonomous sugar beet defoliator and sugar beet cart,” said Dahl. “They see the farmer running in his harvester but then the other two machines are running autonomously. That was their wish list.”

Dahl says that autonomous grain carts are very close and FARGOINC.COM

139

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

Why North Dakota Is Right For Grand Farm North Dakota is often seen as a conservative and traditional place but over its 130-year history, it has proven time and time again that it is ripe for innovation. Dahl’s grandfather Melroe kicked off that innovation

by building the first successful manufacturing business in North Dakota. Out of that company emerged the Bobcat Loader, North Dakota’s iconic signature to the world.

After the company was sold, Dahl’s father and uncle bought control of Steiger Tractor and watched it grow from $2 million to $105 million in six years.

Out of Steiger emerged a very

EARLY MARKET

Crossing The Chasm Minimum Feature Set

Innovators 2.5%

Early Adopters 13.5%

People Who Want Newest Things 140

MAY 2019

THE CHASM THE CHASM THE CHASM THE CHASM THE CHASM THE CHASM

that we’re only four or five years from seeing significant growth in this field.

talented engineer who created Phoenix International, which became Deere Electronics, headquartered in Fargo. That talented engineer was Barry Batcheller who left Deere to create Appareo, a rapidly growing company spawning numerous innovative products in agriculture and aerospace.

“There’s been a tremendous innovative spirit in this region,”

Whole Product Solution

Early Majority 34%

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM said Dahl. “A lot of it is the ethos of the area. You’re around people who say, ‘We can figure out how to do this.’ ... Most of the young startups have mentors or advisors who are helping to guide them and helping to learn from the mistakes of people who have been there before.”

So the question is, can this success of innovation continue?

Through Grand Farm and the

planting of the stake in the ground that North Dakota is a player in ag automation and tech, it is likely that this will continue.

“In 1958, both Bobcat and Steiger were founded,” said Dahl. “It took quite a while for significant growth but both became real game changers for the world. ...

Everything starts with a dream and an idea. It sometimes takes

a while to perfect it but we also have extremely talented farmers in this area and the task for the companies in Grand Farm is to listen to these very intelligent farmers and not assume we have a better idea than they do about what they need and what they’ll use.”

MAINSTREAM MARKET

Late Majority 34%

Laggards 16%

People Who Want Complete Solutions and Convenience FARGOINC.COM

141

I N N OVAT I O N

Nathan Faleide (left) and his dad Lanny at Grand Farm's location south of Fargo.

What

LANNY FALEIDE

Has Learned From Almost Three Decades in Ag Tech

A

bout 25 years, a man named Lanny Faleide from Maddock, N.D., saw a change coming in field mapping. He built software to create variablerate maps using satellite imagery to analyze fields to save money on chemical, seed and fertilizers. Since that humble beginning, Satshot 142

MAY 2019

has become a leader in the remote sensing industry and has a presence on every continent and now hosts well over 20 million acres worth of field boundaries in its system. After being in the ag tech industry for almost three decades, Faleide answered some questions on what he's learned.

Satshot Mission "To deliver, distribute and manage data associated to agriculture at a precise level, scale, and speed that helps farmers and their advisors work through the challenges they face throughout the world every day."

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

I have a coffee cup on my desk with the slogan: “FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION” Apollo 13 - Gene Kranz That phrase has helped me believe in myself and fully understand how to ADAPT, not FAIL. Being recognized by NASA in 2000 and in 2016 on cloud-based imagery mapping technologies helped us realize that we were creating something truly unique.

Satshot At Work This image analysis is done using Satshot's technology of Grand Farm's actual 40-acres of farmland off I-29.

It shows a highresolution satellite at 1.5-meter resolution.

This analysis shows different vegetation levels of crop growth.

Green/light green is the best vegetation, yellow/gold is average and reds/blues are poor vegetation densities.

The area in the middle of the field with all the reds and blues show the effects of piling dirt from the past construction of the nearby road intersection. In a regular field analysis, these vegetation zones represent areas that can be variable rate seeded, fertilized or sprayed based on the productive areas of the field for more efficient farming practices.

Learn more about Satshot at satshot.com

Q: North Dakota is now recognized as a leader in as ag tech. You were one of the pioneers. Talk about being part of that legacy.

A: Since the settlement of this state, there has always been a pioneer spirit convincing us that we can do anything. That spirit was instilled into me through my ancestors who came to settle this land. Agriculture has always been a part of my life and having the privilege to see the first man walk on the moon live on TV when I was 12, led me to believe that space technologies could somehow be merged with agriculture. Learning to fly airplanes and seeing my fields from above also gave me a new perspective on how my crops grew. Bringing new imaging technologies to agriculture has always been in my mindset and having the opportunity to have an impact on world agriculture and food production using space technologies has been a very gratifying experience.

Q: Being from a small town of Maddock, North Dakota, what challenges do you have finding employees that can handle the high tech nature of the job?

A: Because of the internet, I could actually have my main office in Fargo while living near Maddock on my farmstead for over 22 years. I really never had an issue with finding employees, largely because we were building state-of-the-art remote sensing satellite imagery technologies and the people we hired all appreciated the challenge. North Dakota’s work ethic is alive and well and the ability to adapt to the problems we faced has always been a strong feature of our rural culture. I think we had the best team in the upper midwest in GIS and remote sensing technologies for years, all from local areas.

Q: Being a legacy company in ag tech, what are you excited about in terms of Grand Farm opening?

A: I am very excited to see what new methods, processes and products come out of the Grand Farm project. I hope we can bring some insight into the project on what technologies are required and the benefits of

each. But, the question will be, are the technologies scalable and can they be adopted by the average farm? A clear agronomic purpose must be implemented and it cannot be only technology for technology’s sake.

Q: Do you think having other up and coming ag tech startups will help your business grow?

A: Yes, they will help us grow and I am very encouraged with all the new levels of interest in the ag tech startup world. At the same time, many startups tend to believe that technology will solve agricultures issues, but, if the ag startup is just trying to disrupt without understanding the consequences of their actions then I think they will have a difficult road. An ag startup’s mission statement must include improving agriculture while, at the same time, helping the rural agriculture community it serves.

Q: Talk about what's happening with your son taking over and the creation of Boundri Inc. What's next for Satshot?

A: Nathan came back in a couple years ago and helped us make our company leaner and market sensitive. At the same time, he brought in new partnerships through Boundri to scale Satshot’s core advanced imagery technologies across other ag software platforms.

We are also pursuing advanced satellite hyper-spectral and radar imagery to bring the next levels of imagery analytics to the ag market.

We strongly believe we are only touching the surface. It will be very interesting to see the next 25 years.

FARGOINC.COM

143

I N N OVAT I O N

How

BOBCAT COMPANY

Has Led The Way For Ag Tech In North Dakota

O

ne could say that Grand Farm wouldn’t be possible without Bobcat Company. If Ed Melroe and the Keller brothers hadn’t invented and manufactured the three-wheel loader then Bobcat Company wouldn’t have been formed. If Bobcat Company was never formed, Steiger Tractor wouldn’t have happened. No Steiger Tractor, no Concord Inc. No Concord, no Amity Technology. And on and on. Like the ever-branching family tree, the business tree of ag tech in North Dakota can be traced back to Bobcat.

Success begets success.

For 60 years, Bobcat Company has been the leading innovator in the design, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of compact equipment for construction, rental, landscaping, agriculture, grounds maintenance, government, utility, industry and mining. However, the question is, how does the company continue that success? Well, that’s where Joel Honeyman, VP of Global Innovation for Doosan Bobcat North America, comes in.

About Joel Honeyman Having been with Bobcat for 22 years, Honeyman has played an integral role in the growth of the organization. Coming from an ag background having grown up on a farm near Regent, N.D., he started his career with Bobcat when, for 10 years, he led North American sales and, about four years ago, he moved into his current position.

Now, he and his group, are responsible for looking at different technologies and how they can be applied to their products, business and how they can create new business models from them.

FARGOINC.COM

145

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

How Bobcat Company helped create the Grand Farm

AGCO/AMITY IAS STRATUS AVIATION

WIL-RICH

AMITY TECHNOLOGY

APPAREO SYSTEMS

APPLIED ENGINEERING

Q: A lot of the people we’ve talked to like Barry Batcheller and Howard Dahl credit Bobcat’s history in Fargo. What does it feel like to work for an organization with that much history?

A: It comes from our roots, which is 60 plus years ago when it was this farmer who had this need and he went to the Keller brothers to solve that need and out of that came the three-wheel loader. That’s our heritage. Agriculture is our heritage and roots. Out of that, we’ve continued that legacy.

Of course, our business has evolved. We still do ag business but a lot more of our business is construction, industrial and those kinds of things but ag is still very much a part of what we do.

We have a nostalgic viewpoint of our origins and roots here in North Dakota being tied to ag.

There’s a lot of ag people that work in our company so we have that background.

Q: What will we be seeing in the next couple years?

A: We’re taking a look at several new technologies, not just in our industry but every other industry and how they might apply to our products, to our business or to create new business models. For example, we now have select customers using an app that allows you to remotely control a Bobcat loader with your iPhone.

Because of the use of the internet and connectivity, 146

MAY 2019

CONCORD STEIGER TRACTOR

IME AFS

JDES

BOBCAT

we’re now connected to our equipment through telematics.

We now have tens of thousands of machines connected providing data every day. Because of that connection, it will allow us to offer new services and features to our customers and being able to do that remotely using your phone, personal computer or whatever it might be.

Q: What are you doing in terms of automation?

A: We are working actively in that area. How we view this is that there’s going to be certain functions that will make the machine be enabled to be autonomous. It’s not like tomorrow you wake up and your Bobcat loader can fully do everything. There will be certain features and things along the way that will take place.

It’s like a car. A car has cruise control, lane guidance avoidance and all these other things.

Those are steps the automakers need to take to make a car fully

1957

1987

2003

Bobcat Company had a lasting effect on the ag tech business scene in FargoMoorhead. This graphic from Barry Batcheller’s 2018 TED talk shows all the companies that have spun off from Bobcat over the years.

2018

To my earlier point, this is a platform. You start with one piece and you start to add additional pieces on.

A: I would say because we started this industry and we’re the market leader and innovator, we have to be the innovation leader. Our thinking is that we need to be first. We need to be a leader in this space. There’s too much risk not to do that.

Look at what Uber did to the cab industry. That’s not to say that someone couldn’t come out of anywhere. They could come out of some different space and put some sort of feature on our equipment and make it autonomous and then we didn’t develop it. We want to be at the forefront of that.

Q: One of the things that Barry Batcheller (President and CEO at Appareo Systems) brought up was that larger ag tech companies like Bobcat Company and John Deere might be some of the later players in automation in agriculture because the scale you’re working on is harder to shift. What would you say to that?

Q: Is there anything that’s hindering the technology from advancing quicker than it could? E.g. policy or the adoption rate by your customers.

A: I don’t think there’s a hindrance that way. I think that since there are so many different technologies out there, the challenge is to determine what has value. What should we be

autonomous. We’re doing the same things in our equipment.

Q: How far out are we from seeing the first stages?

A: The first pieces, we’re looking to commercialize within the year.

The remote control is a piece of that. The iPhone remote control allows us to do certain things.

That’s a platform to be able to enable autonomous features in the future.

I N N OVAT I O N

GRAND FARM

© 2019 SHULTZ + ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS

The Digital Business Innovation Center

Earlier this year, Doosan Bobcat announced that they are opening a digital business innovation center in the newly remodeled Black Building in Downtown Fargo. This 11,000-square-foot space will feature project team rooms, innovation areas, project pitch area and much more all designed to be the facility to do rapid prototyping and ideation around ideas for innovation and their digital business.

“This is going to be our facility to do rapid prototyping, rapid ideation around ideas around innovation and digital business to be able to very quickly develop those ideas, vet those out to customers and then to find out whether they fit,” said Honeyman. “This is a crossfunctional development center.

There will be many tools to enable development. The facility itself serves as a tool to enable collaboration and development differently than 148

MAY 2019

a corporate headquarters can, for example.

The location was also a strategic decision. The Black Building was originally constructed in 1930 and is being remodeled

by Kilbourne Group, a developer in Fargo responsible for a lot of the revitalization of Downtown Fargo.

“We looked at a number of different sites within Fargo,” said Honeyman. “When we looked at other facilities in Fargo, downtown became very advantageous because there are other players down there and because of the vibrancy of downtown Fargo. Downtown Fargo, for this area, is a really unique place. For us to attract new employees and for us to show we’re really working on new technologies in these areas, we felt it was important to have this kind of facility in Downtown to enable that.

Doosan Bobcat expects to begin operating out of the Black Building by October 1.

working on? What are those basic things? With technology, how do you keep it simple for the user? Especially in agriculture and construction, our customers don’t want overly complex solutions. I think our challenge is to make sure we provide an adequate level of technology that enables these things but yet is simple to use. It’s that balance.

I’ve seen it happen the other way.

You can be way too far in front of your customer and a solution.

Three years from now, it might be a great thing but today it’s not.

Q: Over the course of the 60 years of Bobcat’s history, it could have gone anywhere in the world. Obviously, its roots are here but why did it stay and why are you continuing to stay?

A: I think it’s because of the work ethic of the people we have here.

Our roots are here. Our main plants for North America are in North Dakota. Many of us who work for Bobcat grew up in North

Dakota or Minnesota knowing who Bobcat was and wanting to be part of it. There is a long history of pride in this company up here. Multiple generations of families that have worked for the company. We’re successful being here. Why would we want to move away?

Q: To talk about Grand Farm, it’s obviously more than just the farm. It’s the push toward the ag tech ecosystem. What does that mean for Bobcat? Are you worried that this could potentially attract other competitors?

A: We see what’s going on with production agriculture. There’s a lot of technology and innovation there already for bigger tractors, combines, farms and things like that. This is a natural progression that there would be other pieces of equipment like ours that would also be a part of that type of environment. We know that there’s a shortage of labor.

People are looking for more productivity to be able to support

the production that’s taking place here.

in the field and gather their feedback.

Farms today are producing much more crops than they used to and, of course, they need equipment and innovation to be able to continue to do that.

We have two customers in North Dakota today that have the first two prototypes of our remote control. Our first prototypes of a lot of our products are tested right here in North Dakota first.

Q: We’ve talked to a couple different farmers and they’ve said that manufacturers can be out of touch with what they actually need. In your position, that seems like something easy to fall into.

How are you making sure that you’re listening to the customer?

A: My group, the innovation team, puts out three or four variations to a solution and we test all of those with different customers. Then we pick the best one and we continue to iterate against that one in order to have the best solution out there.

We’ve also brought groups of customers into our Acceleration Center in Bismarck. We have open sessions with them to show them the latest things we’re working on along with the other things that we’re doing

Q: When it comes to innovation and the future of ag tech, what do you want them to know about?

A: I want them to know that Bobcat, in addition, to making a great piece of equipment is also dedicated to being an innovation leader in this space.

We are investing heavily in that to maintain our innovation edge, which has always been with us for the last 60 years. We are committed to that innovation, whether that’s in software, hardware, different business models, whatever it might be.

In the future, it’s not going to just be about the equipment.

It’s going to be about how the customer or the operator interacts with that equipment as well. That’s the new world we’re going to be living in.

M A K E R S PAC E

A

strong ecosystem is all great but you do need a physical space to actually do the work. On 40-acres right off I-29, that's exactly what will be happening.

Thanks to a generous donation from Kevin Biffert, the future of farming will be developed from this patch of land.

MAKERSPACE

FARGOINC.COM

151

M A K E R S PAC E

(Left to right) Jessica Petrick, Human Resources Manager Kevin Biffert, President Gabriele Graf, Chief Financial Officer

How

AUTOMATION Has Come To Fargo

I

t’s impossible to create a fully autonomous farm without having any farmland. Well, thanks to Kevin Biffert, President of Fargo Automation, there are 40 acres right off I-29 to create the farm of the future. He is donating the land to make the Grand Farm a possibility.

However, Biffert’s involvement with automation in Fargo doesn’t start and end with the donation of the land. In fact, Biffert was really the one who helped prove that FargoMoorhead is ripe for automation. Here are the takeaways from our conversation with him about why Fargo is the ripe spot for Grand Farm, what the Grand Farm will look like and where we’re going as a community in terms of automation.

FARGOINC.COM

153

M A K E R S PAC E

GRAND FARM

Quickest Growing Occupations 1.

2.

Biffert started his career working at 3M in Wahpeton, N.D. In 1996, they went through some downsizing and that’s when Biffert started Fargo Automation.

It was during his time at 3M that he saw how automation is affecting companies all around the world. The company now creates automated packing machines for pharmaceutical companies.

Fargo Automation was almost like a proof of concept that Fargo could be a spot for automation to thrive. Thanks to the talent coming out of the universities and the hard work ethos that persists here, the main reason Fargo Automation was able to grow so rapidly was because of the people.

How he decided to launch an automation company

“When I was working at 3M, I saw that automation was assisting companies to increase their productivity. If they can increase their productivity, every place that I’ve ever been, they don’t get rid of the people. They gain people because they’re more productive or they’re meeting a niche.

“I noticed that speeds were getting so fast that you couldn’t get enough people to do it. In our syringe line, we’re up over 1,000 per minute. No human can deal with that.”

“All of our customers are pharmaceutical companies and they want to keep their prices down so they can sell more to more people. They want to serve as many people as they can.

That’s their goal.

154

MAY 2019

How he proved Fargo was ripe for automation

“Early on when I started the company, I wanted to be near a university or university system.

Today, almost every student comes from the university system, whether it’s mechanical, a programmer or technicians.

It’s more of a high-tech industry that’s making the rest of the economy better.

“At some point, you’re not going to make your own sandwich. I can guarantee you that. It’s just a matter of when it is justified.

Justification usually comes when there’s technology to allow it…

One thing that I’ve found is that if it’s easier, faster, quicker and broader, it’s going to sell.”

3.

How automation is shaping future jobs

There’s a report from Northwestern University that we’ve cited already in this magazine that says that automation will impact 63.29 percent of the Fargo-Moorhead

Job Service ND keeps track of the quickest growing occupations by projected growth.

If you look at the top 20 in demand jobs, several of them are with high tech positions. The numbers below show their placement in the top 20 jobs.

1. Wind turbine service technicians

7.2% annual change from 2016-2026

10. Information security analysts

3.5% annual change from 2016-2026

13. Operations research analysts

3.2% annual change from 2016-2026

14. Petroleum engineers

3.2% annual change from 2016-2026

19. Software developers, applications

2.9% annual change from 2016-2026

M A K E R S PAC E

GRAND FARM

population. However, Biffert doesn’t believe that jobs being affected by automation leads to people being laid off. In fact, a good case study is Giants Snacks in Wahpeton, N.D. Tom Spiekermeier, the operations manager, said that they’ve never laid anybody off because of automation.

“What happens is that companies become so good at what they’re doing, they actually have to serve more people like Giants Snacks. The biggest plant that we do pharmaceutical work is in Columbus, Nebraska and that plant has grown every year since I’ve been working with them for 18 years. They want to serve a wider market.

If they can keep their prices in check and also produce the stuff at really high quality, they become very competitive in the market. They want to do things very productively. All these companies do.”

4.

How the workforce needs to adapt to these jobs

While there is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to automation and how much of an effect it will have on jobs, the one certain thing is that the jobs of tomorrow will look different than the jobs of today. This is no different than what history has proven over and over. Piano tuners jobs were replaced as record players became more prevalent and people bought FARGOINC.COM

155

M A K E R S PAC E

GRAND FARM fewer pianos. Bowling alley pinsetters have been replaced with automatic machines. The examples go on and on. While jobs are becoming more high tech, this is also affecting how Fargo Automation treats their employees.

scope instead of just, ‘I’m an expert in just this one thing.’

“Compared to other manufacturers in the area, we’re looking for a different skill set,” said Jessica Petrick, the human resources manager for Fargo Automation. “We are looking for people who aren’t afraid of a non-structured environment in terms of that they’re not coming to the same spot, doing the same activities. For instance, our technicians do a variety of things.

They don’t just do assembly of the same component every day.

They do mechanical, electrical, troubleshooting and customer interaction. They do the whole

5.

156

MAY 2019

“We did this because we had to be lean. If you have one person who can do all things, you don’t have to hire three people to do each of those things.”

How the universities play an important role in our community

In fall 2018, there were 25,874 students enrolled in one of the eight universities or colleges in Fargo-Moorhead. That higher education is playing a crucial role in the jobs of tomorrow.

Whether it’s technical research or engineering work that’s coming out of NDSU or diesel mechanics coming from M State, the education being provided by these colleges is absolutely

At some point, you’re not going to make your own sandwich. I can guarantee you that. It’s just a matter of when it is justified. Justification usually comes when there’s technology to allow it… One thing that I’ve found is that if it’s easier, faster, quicker and broader, it’s going to sell.”

M A K E R S PAC E

GRAND FARM crucial. However, it’s not only the colleges that are doing the education. Students are able to learn in more ways than ever before.

they know more than our people. … It’s hard to gauge one person.

I think people are figuring it out themselves through different methods.”

“We hire a lot of students,” said Biffert. “We maybe have 10 percent students (11-13 employees) who are here and they’re learning too. They don’t all stay here but it’s an atmosphere where they can engage with people who have been here full-time for five to 10 years. What I hear from a lot of the students is that they get to engage with a lot of the students that have already done this so they can learn and jump up to their next level.

6.

“We also have some people who just learned it at home and come with the skill. They learned it on YouTube. We have people who come here with no degree and

How he got involved in Grand Farm

Fargo Automation is quickly growing. In the next year, they’re hoping to add 30-40 employees, which is about a 50 percent increase in the number of employees. They’re simply outgrowing their space.

After Biffert talked with Greg Tehven, the Executive Director of Emerging Prairie, Biffert donated 40 acres of his own farmland for Grand Farm. Fargo Automation will be opening a plant there and will have their two locations for a while.

“Greg Tehven is a very good talker. They want to farm. Well, I have farmland and a whole bunch of open space. What they want to do is mold themselves with the rest of the companies and universities to create this tech center where you can train people quickly and get them up to speed so if you have somebody with these certain skills, they can come in and get trained. That’s the whole idea.

“If you look at the steering committee, we have a bunch of different people with different ideas about what the Grand Farm is. I told them not to forget anything because it could be cattle, sheep, animals or grains.

Barry Batcheller may be like, “I want 700 bushels of corn.”

Everybody has a different idea of what that means.

FARGOINC.COM

157

M A K E R S PAC E

GRAND FARM

College enrollments as of fall 2018 NDSU

13,796

MSUM

5,860

Concordia

2,100

Minnesota State Community and Technical College

2,652

Rasmussen

"As the vision of Grand Farm started to come together, we imagined getting the actual farm to use would be one of the most challenging steps," said Greg Tehven, Executive Director of Emerging Prairie. "However, after Kevin and his wife Stacy heard of the vision, their generous contribution has been a key catalyst to the speed in which we've been able to operate. Their bold philanthropy will be one of the key elements in the ultimate success of the project."

NDSCS

378

University of Mary Fargo Campus

220

University of Jamestown Fargo Campus

7.

How the Grand Farm is more than a farm

One of the inspirations for Grand Farm from a design perspective is Epcot Center in Orlando. The Grand Farm Steering Committee wants to create something that will have good visibility off the interstate. However, the idea of Grand Farm extends far beyond just the actual farm.

“I think it’s more than a theme park. Greg says the next president is going to come and speak there. We’ll see. His whole thing is that he wants something that attracts someone to

158

760

MAY 2019

108

* Stats according to Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corporation

“The whole idea is to have a farm, building and tech center but be able to go out and test your product right there on the farm. Or go out and have a self-driving vehicle that can use a frontage road, mark it off and say, ‘It’s got to drive back and forth 100,000 times before we say it’s good.’ It’s stuff like that that’s driving all of this.”

M A K E R S PAC E

What is Fargo Automation?

Biffert started Fargo Automation in 1996 after working at 3M in Wahpeton, N.D. One of his first clients was Marvin Windows, however, he quickly moved into the medical field and now creates fully automated machines for the pharmaceutical industry.

The machines Fargo Automation are creating are going to pharmaceutical companies around the world.

For example, one of their machines can pack 1,200 flu vaccines a minute.

In 2017, Biffert sold Fargo Automation to Körber Group, an international technology company that has about 10,000 employees around the world.

Learn more at fargoautomation.com

understand that it’s not just about farming. It’s bigger than that. It’s about autonomy and doing things in a way that’s improving peoples’ lives and improves the lives of everybody.

“If you can get your drugs a little cheaper or widespread worldwide, that improves people’s lives. It’s the same thing with agriculture. If you can get the grain to people and the people aren’t starving to death, you can see how much that’s helped the world already.”

8.

How close are we to a fully automated farm

Full automation on the farm is still years away, but on May 8 of this year, Sabanto, a farming as a service company out of Iowa, will be planting the field autonomously so automation is already here to a certain extent in agriculture. However, full automation involves much more than just planting the field.

“That’s just one piece of it. For example, that’s not hauling the grain. We’re talking one small piece of what can happen. It’s just something to show that it’s affordable. The biggest challenge is the safety. Whatever happens in the self-driving car is going to happen in the selfdriving tractor, grain hauler and all that. I just don’t know what that is and I don’t think many people do."

160

MAY 2019

M A K E R S PAC E

GRAND FARM

How

THE GRAND FARM

Was Designed

F

irst of all, how exciting!

When I think of the Grand Farm from an architectural perspective, I think about how this concept might translate into building buildings over time, how it needs to become adaptable and how can we recycle this thing someday? Is the building plug and play and added onto as need arises stemming from growth or change? How can it be autonomous in terms of energy

sources? Is there a sustainability component? What does it mean to be state-of-the art? How does it highlight the people that are creating things in a shop/lab format? How does it showcase this region as the leader in agricultural technology?

That being said, I also think about how farms are built and laid out historically and how they might be best laid out to be more than just the sheltering of machines. I see them being FARGOINC.COM

163

M A K E R S PAC E

GRAND FARM

inspirational, interactive for people and machinery and the outdoors and a really great place for collaboration between business leaders and makers. I also think that we can be leaders in showcasing what “North Dakota” architecture can be: culturally sensitive, functional, effective, honest, not fussy, a positive impact on our heritage and a billboard for design and innovation.

On a personal level, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time growing up on my grandparent’s farm and that 164

MAY 2019

is ingrained in me forever as I know it is for a lot of people.

Even though this might be a “high-tech and autonomous” kind of thing, this project should have a sense of some nostalgia to it and embrace the farm as a community gathering place as I know that has been its role for generations. I love the idea of intersecting farming, engineering, design, technology, sustainability and business in one place.

Lastly, one of my favorite things about North Dakota is that the people are grounded, yet

supportive of those that are willing to be risk takers. There always seems to be someone starving to help an entrepreneur to succeed as a source of shared pride. Recently, I toured Körber (formerly Fargo Automation) with Kevin Biffert and I walked out of there thinking to myself that I just saw the future. It was very wild and exciting. It's a little piece of awesome happening right under my nose.

Like that great North Dakota business that started in North Dakota, this project is forward thinking, dynamic, exciting and

chaarch.com

it seems to me that some of this region’s greatest global innovations have been born of that. I see this as North Dakota’s calling card and an opportunity for everyone to act as stewards of this region’s next big idea.

Isn’t it great that the Grand Farm can continue pushing “the farm” as this region’s greatest entrepreneurial effort?!

- Chris Hawley, Principal Architect, Chris Hawley Architect + Construction and designer for Grand Farm

UPSKILLING

UPSKILLING

THE WORKFORCE

A

s technology advances, so too must the workforce.

However, in order to continue that growth, the way education is done must be looked at. From online education to coding schools, education is also transforming with technology.

FARGOINC.COM

167

UPSKILLING

GRAND FARM

How

MICROSOFT

Is Enabling Into Ag Tech

S

ince Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software in 2001, the tech giant has had a major presence in North Dakota. Now one of the largest employers in Fargo is working with farmers on how its technologies can be a platform for agriculture. We caught up with Taya Spelhaug, Microsoft's Tech Spark North Dakota Manager, about the work they're doing with ag tech.

168

MAY 2019

Q: What is Microsoft's vision for agriculture?

A: Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more, so our work is really about building the tools that can make others more successful in what they are trying to achieve. That is our vision for digital transformation taking part across our economy, where our customers' success is how we measure our success.

That includes the transformation taking place in agriculture and how modern farms are harnessing technology to

increase crop yields and improve how land is sustainably used.

FarmBeats is an example of the potential for precision agriculture where we are providing farmers with access to Microsoft cloud and AI technologies, enabling data-driven decisions to help improve agricultural yield, lower overall costs and reduce the environmental impact of production.

When Microsoft and FFA announced our Blue 365 partnership bringing technology, science, research and entrepreneurship programming

to more than 650,000 FFA student members nationwide, Fargo was a natural choice because of the agriculture innovation happening here in North Dakota.

Q: With TechSpark being a year and a half in, what are you learning from being in North Dakota and how will Microsoft help address those concerns you've discovered?

A: Fargo is one of just six communities selected for TechSpark, Microsoft's civic program designed to foster greater economic opportunity and job creation in rural and smaller metropolitan communities through regional internet connectivity, computer

FarmBeats As Spelhaug states, The FarmBeats Project is Microsoft working with farmers to enable datadriven farming. Some of the research that they're working with include...

• Techniques to merge drone imagery with ground sensor data • TV White Spaces based long range sensor networks in the farms • Automation of drone flights in the farms • Improving drone battery life • An IoT gateway device for Agriculture • Cloud support and ML services that are useful for Agriculture

science education and digital skills development, career skills development, nonprofit support and digital business transformation.

Not only am I a lifelong North Dakotan, but Microsoft also has a campus in Fargo, and so that gave us a good starting point to partner closely at the local level. If there was one takeaway from our first year and a half, it’s just how important community partnerships are to creating economic opportunity. If it wasn’t for the commitment and work of our local civic leaders, nonprofits, local businesses and schools coming together to create new opportunities, and an understanding of the complex challenges that our community faces, we would not be making the progress we’ve seen.

In North Dakota, we have expanded our TEALS computer science program in high schools and organized the first statewide Hour of Code for hundreds of schools and thousands of students. We are assessing skills shortages and leveraging partnerships with Code.org, 4-H, FFA and local colleges to drive digital skills opportunities and career pathway training programs. And we are seeing results from this model of deep partnership.

It’s encouraging to see the recent adoption of computer science and cybersecurity standards that will help schools equip students for the 21st-century workforce, the public and private highspeed internet initiatives that

UPSKILLING

GRAND FARM

TEALS Computer science in every high school According to Microsoft, in the U.S., there will be 1.4 million CS-related jobs by 2020, yet U.S. college graduates are expected to fill less than a third of those jobs. This means that computer science and computer engineering skills are crucial. TEALS is a program through Microsoft that gets professional software developers to go into classrooms and teach classes.

North Dakota schools that work with TEALS • Beulah High School • Sheyenne High School • South High School • North High School

are giving North Dakota citizens and businesses increased access to the digital economy—they are investments in our future prosperity.

Q: Why is agriculture so ripe for innovation?

A: Every industry across our economy is leveraging technology to be more innovative, efficient and competitive and agriculture is no exception. You see it here in our state with the agricultural transformation taking place in North Dakota as farms, co-ops and others embrace technology and pioneer how innovation can be put to practical use. The move toward a data-driven approach to farming will help us answer one of the most difficult and important questions we face today: how, in a world with a finite amount of arable land, can we produce enough food to meet the needs of a global population that continues to grow? Farms and the larger ag industry, in particular, see

technology as a valuable tool to do that.

Q: Agriculture is undergoing a massive cultural shift as the new generation is taking over farming from the previous ones. What possibilities does this open up for innovation?

A: The next generation of ag leaders has grown up with technology as part of their lives so they also see the promise it can offer, including on the farm.

Microsoft has been working with youth programs like National 4-H and FFA to help students get access to cutting edge technology education and skills opportunities, including here in North Dakota. In its first year, the program was active in Cass County here in North Dakota, as well as five other counties in rural states.

We are also partnering with 4-H’s Tech Changemakers program to empower students with technology to improve

their communities. We’re also supporting FFA’s Blue 365 Challenge so students can learn about precision agriculture and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Not only does that bring a real learning opportunity through curricula to 650,000 of FFA’s student members nationwide, it also sparks deeper interest for students to get hands-on with their own ag innovation. In my hometown of Kindred, the FFA chapter students competed to win one of 50 FarmBeats student kits in a national competition and won, and that really hammers home the potential for innovation happening here in our own backyard.

• Berthold High School • Hazen High School • Kindred High School • Jamestown High School • West Fargo High School • Velva High School • Hillsboro High School • Davies High School Fargo • Mandan High School • North Cass High School - Hunter

tealsk12.org

Q: The average person is mindful and even scared of automation because of the lost jobs. What would you say to them to soothe their fears and why should we actually be excited about it?

A: Technology and the pace of innovation is rapid and with it FARGOINC.COM

171

UPSKILLING

GRAND FARM

comes disruptions and the very real implications that come with it. As a technology company, we realize we have a responsibility to help people access opportunities that technology can bring, including through our TechSpark work to expand digital skills and foster those economic opportunities here in North Dakota. To help people get the training they need to thrive in today’s economy and prepare for the future, Microsoft is focusing on: Preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s jobs Helping today’s workers prepare for the changing economy by identifying skills employers are seeking and providing training opportunities for workers to upskill and advancing life-long skills development.

UPSKILLING

GRAND FARM

Q: Something I think a lot about is the growing population. I think of somebody like Norman Borlaug who is credited with saving a billion lives because of the agricultural innovations he adopted in the 1960s. In 2050, there's going to be almost 10 billion people. Obviously, to feed that population, we need innovation and growth.

Do you ever think of the technology that Microsoft and other companies is working on as being similar to what Borlaug did?

A: With the world’s population expected to grow nearly 2.5 billion people over the next quarter century, advancements like artificial intelligence offer

significant opportunities to increase food production by improving agricultural yield and reducing waste. We are just in the beginning stages of that emerging technology, but already we can see that success will depend on scaling precision farming technologies.

That makes our work to expand broadband access in rural and remote areas where people do not have a high-speed internet connection and digital skills education and upskilling talent so fundamental to realizing that potential.

Q: Twenty years from now, where do you see North Dakota being at in terms of an industry leader in terms of automation in agriculture?

What innovations are you

most excited to see come to fruition?

A: There is an old proverb that it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. North Dakota is embracing a future where its industries are diversified and it is leading innovation, and that has tremendous potential to benefit its residents and economy.

Already our state is being called the “Silicon Valley” of U.S. drone industry technology, it can lead on agricultural transformation, and it is preparing its future workers through computer science and cybersecurity skills by adopting ambitious education standards. I’m excited by this progress because it can lay the foundation for a future of opportunity.

4-H's Tech Changemakers By sponsoring 4-H's Tech Changemakers, Microsoft hopes to promote tech innovation with their in young tech changemakers. This year, the grand prize winner was Joseph Huff from Utah who has 3D printed and assembled dozens of prosthetic hands for children.

Learn more at 4-h. org/get-involved/ supporters/ microsoft-techchangemakers

UPSKILLING

How

EDUCATION Is Changing To Market Demands

T

here is a well-reported stat that says that 85 percent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. Because of the rapidly changing nature of technology and the impact it will have on almost every industry, it’s important to educate today’s kids and workforce for these future jobs. There’s also a saying that every company needs to become a software company or it will be disrupted by one and that is shaping out to be true. With education being so important for the future of work, that begs the question, how can we train employees to fill that workforce?

Prime Digital Academy in Minneapolis is reshaping the way that education is being done and Co-Founder Mike Derheim has some ideas on how we can upskill our current workforce to meet those future jobs.

About Prime Academy Prime Digital Academy was founded in 2014 as a way to address the talent shortage in technology and to get more people from diverse

174

MAY 2019

backgrounds into entry-level jobs in technology. With two different courses in full stack engineering and user experience design, their 20-week courses give hands-on work with practical skills to enter the 21st-century workforce. In fact, Minnesota was recently named the fastest growing state for tech jobs in America with an expected 200,000 new jobs created in Minnesota in the next decade.

With their campuses in Minneapolis and the newly opened one in Kansas City, their roughly 800 graduates have been hired by almost 400 companies in Minneapolis. Those graduates come from a diverse background. What’s exciting about this is that it is bringing new people into the tech space and they are also bringing their backgrounds with them.

“Often, we're taking people who have been in the workforce for some period of time,” said Derheim. “It could be that they're a waiter or waitress, barista, someone who has spent years as a laborer on a farm or operating some piece of equipment and we bring them

into technology. They're bringing all that experience from the context of what it was like to do that job before.”

The idea is that bringing new people into the tech space will also bring new ideas and innovations, which is imperative to the future of automation and technology.

Learn more at primeacademy.io Automation is Coming The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University published a report looking at how automation will affect different industries and communities. According to the study, small cities will have higher portions of their workforce replaced by machines rather than large cities. This is because larger cities have positions that are more easily automated (like card dealers, fishermen, cashiers and accountants) while larger cities have more managerial and knowledge professions (like lawyers, scientists and software developers.)

However, automation will affect each industry differently. They found that mid-level jobs are the most likely to be automated whereas jobs like CEOs, CFOs and similar jobs will still remain.

What’s interesting though is that very low-end positions like janitors will be the last to be automated. This is because that position is cheap and automation requires capital so companies don’t have as much incentive to automate it.

So what does Derheim think about the way we should be approaching this?

“It's to get out in front of this kind of technological wave that is crashing into every industry in the world,” said Derheim. “I hadn't thought too much about how the impact will be different in a place like Fargo versus a place like Minneapolis, but there's certainly some logic to what they're saying. I think that it would be smart for communities to take the approach of figuring out how to get in front of this and how to get our workforce trained and ready to evolve so that those jobs aren't moving out.”

UPSKILLING

GRAND FARM

Q&A

WITH DERHEIM

How likely is your job to replaced by automation?

If you Google “How Will Automation Affect Different U.S. Cities?” you will find the report from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In that report, there is a search bar where you can type in your occupation and find the possibility that your job will be replaced by automation. We randomly chose a list of occupations to look at the likelihood they’ll be replaced by automation.

Accountants and Auditors

Barbers

94%

80%

Cashier

Editor

97%

6%

Financial Analysts

Real Estate Sales Agent

3%

86%

Software Developers, Applications

21%

Tellers

98%

Q: When your average Joe Schmoe thinks of automation, I'm sure the first thing that comes to their mind is jobs being replaced by machines. How do you think that we, the public, should be looking at automation? How should we embrace it and be ready for that change?

A: The reality is that automation is coming to almost every industry, although I don't think we are going to go from zero to 100 percent fully automated overnight. It's an evolution that is going to happen, though, and quicker than most people think.

We are living at a time where the technology is advancing so quickly and the economic benefits are so high – that it's inevitable. I believe that trying to put off that inevitable future is futile and that we should instead spend our time embracing and preparing for the change.

I think a better way to think about it is that, with this change, Joe Schmoe's job is also going to be changed. There is going to be a lot more people involved in technology and technologyfocused careers. The idea – and one of the pillars of Grand Farm – is upskilling the workforce. I think embracing the fact that technology is going to be a big part of your working life and your career over a number of years as automation continues to change the way we do business. Embracing that idea and doing things like going to a program like Prime or brushing up somehow on the side to get yourself ready for that, I think that's just smart. Think about just accepting the reality that this stuff is coming and you need to figure out how to be ready for it so that you can evolve with the world.

Q: Obviously, Minneapolis is different from Fargo and Fargo is different from a rural town like Langdon, North Dakota. How does that rural setting of North Dakota affect everything that we're talking about here? How can rural communities embrace and adapt to these things?

A: The story is the same in a lot of ways. The overall point that I would make is that technology is moving extremely fast right now. Faster than it's moved in as long as I can remember. I've been in the industry for 20 years and the momentum is building, not falling. Everything from coffee shops to a million-acre farm, the technology is impacting every one of those organizations and whether it's a rural community or a larger metropolitan area, I think that finding pragmatic solutions and ways of getting people ready for that evolution instead of waiting for it to sort of happen organically is the answer to keeping people in the communities that they're in.

For example, communities like Landon probably have pretty limited options if they need technology talent or any other expertise that doesn't exist there. I can imagine that it’s pretty difficult for them to recruit people from other areas to move to Langdon for one of those positions. Places like that should consider taking the initiative to figure out what skills are necessary for their town’s future and get people who are already living there up to speed.

Those opportunities, if they exist, can keep people firmly planted in the community they are proud of and allow it to thrive.

FARGOINC.COM

175

POLICY

H

POLICY

ow long until autonomous vehicles will be allowed on roads? What will autonomous technology do to current jobs? How are cities and states preparing for automation? These are some of the issues that politicians are grappling with. Cities, states and the country as a whole will be affected by fully autonomous vehicles so what discussions are taking place now to ensure we're ready for this growth?

FARGOINC.COM

177

POLICY

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney on the pedestrian bridge over I-94.

178

MAY 2019

POLICY

GRAND FARM

How Automation Will Affect

FARGO C

ities across the country are preparing for the inevitable shift that will come from automation. From the way traffic is run to improved efficiencies with garbage disposal, it will affect day-to-day life on a dramatic scale. We talked with Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney on what they are doing to prepare for the arrival of automation.

Q: What discussions are happening in terms of city planning when it comes to automation and where things are going?

A: Eventually, we think there could be autonomous vehicles within the community so we’re doing everything we can to continue to sync up our signals and how our city works. I always tease the traffic guys if they can make the lights automatic so when I come to work in the morning, it goes off each time.

a traffic jam, you can direct traffic. If there’s something else going on in the community, you can help.

We’re looking at different ways that automation will really help us make the urban experience better for people and not have follow-ups that happen if you don’t know what’s going on in that area.

Now, sometimes, if there’s a problem in part of the city, we have to send someone out to look at it. Our pumps in the flood fight right now are That’s where we’re going. all running but we still have How many people are coming someone to drive around to to work in one direction? Can check them all the time. It we do it with would be the ebb and great to have flow of how something There are more that works? that’s all than What that automatic.

175 traffic signals does is having across the City, which are actual monitors Q: How being monitored to optimize in every far do you timing and shorten commutes. intersection think we Census Bureau data suggests throughout the are away the average Fargo commute community from that is more than 10 minutes so you know kind of shorter than the US what’s going future? average. on so if there’s A: The

governor thinks it’s 10 years.

We think it’s going to be a little bit longer than that. We still think most farmers and urban people like to drive a car.

We still think we’re a little bit behind to how people will adapt to that. A lot of millennials in town, however, are a little bit different. They take a bike, walk or take an Uber so we’re starting to transition to that younger group who says, ‘Hey, I don’t need my own car.’

Q: When people think of automation, most people think of jobs being replaced. How should we be looking at and embracing this technology?

A: We had a company come to us that’s going to expand their plant. They make T-shirts, logos and those types of things. Yes, they’re going to more automation but they’re then going to go to a higher wage for the employees so the employees are going to have to know how to run the

FARGOINC.COM

179

POLICY

How Automation Will Affect Cities The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University published a report that looked at how automation will affect different U.S. cities. They found that automation will not affect every city the same. The researchers studied the workforces of different cities and calculated what portion of jobs in each area is likely to be automated in the coming decade.

GRAND FARM

They found that smaller cities will be more affected by automation as they have more jobs that can be automated whereas larger cities have larger shares of managerial and knowledge professions (like lawyers, scientists and software developers).

Below are the results for how a select few cities will be affected.

Bismarck Automation impact

Fargo Automation impact

63.29%

61.27%

Affected Employment

Affected Employment

54,320

111,860 Grand Forks Automation impact

65.51%

Affected Employment

38,960 Minneapolis - St. Paul Bloomington, Minn.

Automation impact

Sioux Falls, S.D. Automation impact

65.55%

57.85%

Affected Employment

Affected Employment

124,940

* Reports from How Will Automation Affect Different U.S. Cities? published on Kellogg School of Management’s website.

1,610,610

computerized models that come out. I think what will happen is that we’ll have fewer people doing certain jobs but we will see, in the future, better-paying jobs, jobs that will probably be a little more exciting for the people and will combine their mental skills along with their manual skills.

We’ll have a step up for people.

on a truck and a lot of backend users as well because there’s a lot of manual labor there.

Now we’ve converted over to an automatic garbage truck that picks up the garbage can and puts it in the truck. We have a lot fewer injuries but we have a lot more efficiency. We see some of the automation as it can help us become more efficient in the city and Q: According to a also bring up different jobs Northwestern report (see that people would have in sidebar), smaller cities managing – managing people, will be more managing affected by decision making automation and managing U.S. Bureau of than larger growth about Labor Statistics cities. Should where we’re data indicates the this scare going to go in unemployment rate in Fargo? the future.

Fargo is below A: We know this is going to We see it as a in North Dakota and less happen so in our Catch 22 so in than two percent in garbage disposal some ways, Fargo. area, we just it’ll be helpful have two men and hopefully

3%

have more jobs that are exciting within the community.

But, in the same way, there will be some efficiency that will decrease the cost for everybody.

Q: One of the cities and the state’s biggest problems is workforce. Automation can help solve our workforce shortage. What are your thoughts on that?

A: When I talk to other mayors across the country, they all have trouble with workforce.

A lot of our kids want to go to college but do they need to go to college? Could we train them in a different way for a different job that they would find just as much satisfaction in and have a good wage? We think the challenge and the future for all the cities are how to attract the workforce to come to the community.

Right now, Fargo is attracting young people. Millennials like the feel and atmosphere of the community and we want to continue that. To me, that’s having young bright people trying to figure out better ways of doing things. We feel, in a lot of ways that would attract a group of people that will be a lot of fun to have in the community to help us continue to grow.

FARGOINC.COM

181

POLICY

How Ag Tech Can Make

NORTH DAKOTA STRONGER

I

f you look at the state's economic pie, the two biggest pieces are agriculture and energy. Any state that's dependent on two industries is at risk because if one of those industries takes a dive, it can have a drastic effect on the state.

However, what if we made a whole new piece of pie that we could all enjoy?

That's what Senator John Hoeven believes we can do with ag tech. We sat down with Senator Hoeven ahead of Secretary of Agriculture’s Sonny Perdue visit last month to talk about adding to North Dakota’s economy, benefits for independent workers and where our state is headed in terms of agriculture. * Interview has been edited for clarity

182

MAY 2019

POLICY

GRAND FARM

Q: You’re advocating for tech entrepreneurship as the third wave for our state’s economy. Talk about why that’s the right move for our state.

A: We’ve always been a leader in ag and there’s no question about it. We’re leading the way in agriculture nationally and internationally. And now in energy too. We’re an energy powerhouse for this nation and not just in oil and gas but all different kinds of energy, both traditional and renewable.

innovative and creative people who are utilizing technology to overcome the barriers of distance. They’re not only applying it to our top two industries, ag and energy, but in so many different ways.

I see the third leg on that stool as technology and specifically tech entrepreneurship. These young companies are full of young entrepreneurs with

Q: We’re hearing a lot about the legacy of these companies that have been here like Ed Melroe with Bobcat. Talk about the

It leverages all of our strengths: our incredible work ethic and great education.

Our distance from some of the major metropolitan markets is not an issue when you’re talking technology. It’s a natural force and we’re on our way.

legacy of ag tech in the culture of our state and the role it plays in our state.

A: When you talk about agriculture, it’s that we’re the leader in innovation, precision agriculture and all the things that are coming. No one is more high tech than our farmers. When you look at some of the folks like Barry Batcheller who’s now one of the drivers behind the Grand Farm initiative, he’s somebody who’s been driving ag technology development his whole life, whether you want to go back to Steiger Tractor, Phoenix International, which is now John Deere Electronic Solutions and makes all the electronic controls for John Deere equipment globally and now, of course, with Appareo.

It’s just a great example of somebody who has combined technology and agriculture his whole life.

Q: The nature of work is changing as technology advances and the gig economy is creating more independent workers.

You’re proposing the Portable Benefits for Independent Workers Pilot

How the Gig Economy is changing work The gig economy is changing the nature of work. By 2020, it’s estimated that about 43 percent of the workforce will be independent contractors. Companies like Uber are allowing people to work more flexible jobs, however, that is coming at the cost of benefits.

That’s why Hoeven and other senators from around the country believe that the Portable Benefits for Independent Workers Pilot Program Act is so important. This bill would require the Secretary of Labor to establish a pilot program for providing benefits to eligible workers that allows them to maintain benefits upon changing jobs.

FARGOINC.COM

183

Program Act. Talk about that.

A: It’s vital. You, everybody you work with, nobody is just going to work in one job their whole life. It used to be that way. My father and grandfather, they had one job that they did their whole life.

Now, you have a lot of different jobs. You have to be mobile and the rate of change has increased. You have to have portability of benefits so that you’ll take that next entrepreneurial step or make that investment, start that new company and do all those things that are a part of this dynamic economy that we have. You have to have some way to take some of those benefits and that healthcare with you. That’s the whole idea behind the Portability Act. Q: Where is that and where do you see that going?

A: I think that we’ll not only pass this bill but we’ll pass more along those lines.

It’s about people having more control over their compensation and benefits so they can continue to go to different jobs and continue to be entrepreneurial throughout their career.

Q: From a policy standpoint, what needs to be addressed before automation becomes mainstream? You’re also bringing in the Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in a couple of weeks who will be talking about some of those exact issues.

A: Automation is happening in so many ways and big ways, whether you look at energy or technology. This means more energy, better environmental stewardship and lower costs. It’s the same thing with agriculture. We’re

POLICY

@SenJohnHoeven facebook.com/SenatorJohnHoeven

Why Ag Is So Important

GRAND FARM

To Our State

29,900 total farms in North Dakota

50 farmer’s markets

$10.9 billion economic impact to the state

North Dakota ranks first in the nation for spring wheat, durum, flax, canola, honey, pulse crops and more

In 2016, soybeans ranked as the top crop in value for the production for the state, bringing in $2.2 billion

Corn ranked second at $1.6 billion

The state is home to 1.86 million head of cattle and calves

984,500 beef cattle

15,500 milk cows

Tens of thousands of piglets

147,000 head of market hogs

70,000 head of sheep and lambs

More than 670,000 honey bee colonies

North Dakota shipped $4.5 billion domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2016

driving precision ag in so many ways. Everything from GPS and having the equipment communicate whether you’re planting, fertilizing or anything else.

Or look at what we’re doing with unmanned aviation. We are a global leader. That ties back to energy and agriculture, as well but it ties to all these other uses, including military applications, customs and border protection and almost everything we do.

Across the board, you’re seeing North Dakota lead in technology in all these different areas.

Sonny Perdue will be here on Saturday, April 27. He’s actually going to be part of kicking off this Grand Farm concept and who better to do it than the Secretary of Agriculture for the United States who comes out of a farm background and truly understands the role of technology in agriculture.

Q: When you think of Grand Farm, it’s much more than just the farm that’s being created. What are you most excited to see come out of Grand Farm?

A: Again, the leadership that North Dakota is manifesting in our core industries of ag, energy and tech entrepreneurship but continue to evolve in all of these areas by combining them in a way that nobody else is doing because that’s what helps create more jobs, opportunities and excitement.

I love the fact that we’re keeping our young people here, bringing more of them

here and driving all this job creation for the future in the Valley and North Dakota.

Q: As the trend goes toward more automation, more acreage and fewer workers for farms, what does that mean for rural towns? The trend has been for people to flock to urban centers like Fargo.

What will happen to the Hettinger, North Dakota, of the world? Will they be able to support grocery stores, restaurants, etc.?

A: You have to build on your strengths and find your niche, whether that’s in tourism, agriculture or energy. For example, as we bring agriculture and energy together, you create these opportunities for an ag energy park like Spiritwood, North Dakota, where you’re combining the two.

I think for small communities, they got to find their strengths, find their niche and build on it for a viable future.

Q: You have the opportunity to reach a wide audience when it comes to Grand Farm and the future of agriculture in our state. What message do you want to leave with them?

A: Leadership. We can compete with anyone, anywhere, anytime and do very well. We always have to have that mindset that we’re going to go out and drive the technology, drive entrepreneurship, drive innovation and we’re going to benefit as a result. That’s what this concept is all about.

* Stats according to ND Department of Agriculture FARGOINC.COM

185

POLICY

North Dakota's Number One Export:

AGRICULTURAL METHODS

F

ormer North Dakota governor and Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Schafer has served North Dakota and agriculture his entire life. While officially out of the political spotlight, he remains actively involved in promoting business and agriculture. We caught up with him to discuss the drastic shift in agriculture technology that’s happening in his state.

186

MAY 2019

POLICY

GRAND FARM

I think we really become a laboratory of experimentation that people look at and say, "We better check that out and see how it can work for us."

Q: Being from North Dakota and living here most of your life, how do you view this change that's come to the state with the Grand Farm?

A: I think the great thing about North Dakota is that it is of the size and scope where you can delve into new products, ways, ideas and technology.

Surprisingly enough, we don't know it, but many states have followed and many manufacturers have copied.

You have a situation where 25 years from now, you look back and say, "We tried this and it worked. We tried that, it didn't work." People came in from all over the world to our operations to see how

they handled it. That's always exciting to know that you can be in the forefront and what they're looking at is performance. They see here's a new way to create nutrition in the world. Here's a way to get better production. Here's a way that you can solve a labor shortage.

North Dakota is often times in the position of leading because we can. We have Independent-minded folks here that like to strike out on their own and they invent new equipment and look at new products and have new ideas for processing. People come here to see it.

Q: As far as new technology goes, the private sector often just kind of runs with it and starts creating and then it's up to the government to catch up with policy.

How far away do you think we are from seeing substantial conversations being had about automation?

A: I disagree with that. I don't believe that policy follows business. What a lot of people don't understand is that really good policy is no policy. The government staying out of the way and not inventing policy, need or having to create some kind of regulation or control is not a bad thing.

Too often we want to rush in and say, "We should develop some policy for that." It is not, I don't believe, government following action with policy.

I think what happens is as things develop, there becomes a more apparent need for licensure, liability insurance or some kind of government oversight.

But, I think it's a danger for government to say, "Let's lead in policy," because

government always gets in the way.

The big guys always look to protect their marketplace and the best way they can protect their marketplace is to lock out the entrepreneurs, the new guys, the new experimenters and keep them out of the market because then they're not a threat to us. The biggest way to keep them out is government control.

The best way and policy is to stay out of the way. But, another way is to say, "We're not going to regulate this, we're not going to license this.

We're not going to sanction this. We're going to provide funds for grants. We're going to provide opportunities for research in universities. We're going to provide ways that businesses can link in and lower their cost of capital for investment." Government is better in enhancing and encouraging the marketplace instead of saying, "No, we're going to control by policy the marketplace."

Q: In your time as governor or as Secretary of Agriculture what discussions were being had about automation and where it's going in agriculture?

A: Technology innovation Continues on page 190 FARGOINC.COM

187

POLICY

How North Dakota Is Connected

Created in collaboration with Dakota Carrier Network How does a largely rural state like North Dakota become a national leader in connectivity while supporting the future of agriculture? You bring gigabit fiber connections into more than 293 communities across the state to connect subscribers’ homes, including farmsteads and ranches – something that’s never been done before. As farms become more high tech and farming equipment runs off the internet of things, reliable internet connectivity is more important than ever. Collectively, Dakota Carrier Network (DCN) and its owners have over 40,000 miles of fiber that support wired and cellular connections in every pocket of the state, providing infrastructure that’s critical for farmers and ranchers to access the latest agriculture technology and applications.

“A few years ago, Gov. Doug Burgum challenged our state’s broadband service providers to make North Dakota the most connected state in the union,” said Seth Arndorfer, CEO of Dakota Carrier Network (DCN). “Our 14 owner companies have risen to the challenge, delivering gigabit fiber connections to urban subscribers as well as those who live in rural communities, including my own family’s farm in Hettinger.”

With North Dakota being one of the richest agricultural regions in the nation, DCN and its Owners’ infrastructure allows farmers and ranchers to integrate cutting edge technology into their operations. Some of the applications include:

GIS Many farmers use geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze field data, including soil nutrient levels, pH and moisture, to ensure crop health and, ultimately, maximize yield. While working in the field, machinery sensors capture and upload data in real-time over a wireless cellular connection. Though it feels like an entirely wireless experience, it’s not. The data is carried over a wireless cellular connection to the closest cell tower or small cell and then hops onto a fiber, often a DCN fiber, to get to its destination.

For this to happen seamlessly, the cell tower or small cell must be nearby, and consequently, so must the fiber. With its Owners’ fiber reaching farms and ranches, DCN’s strategically placed equipment supports the wireless cellular transport of data from a tractor, or other machinery, to a cell tower or small cell. To date, DCN has connected over 700 LTE wireless towers across North Dakota.

188

MAY 2019

To Market, To Market Websites and applications that aggregate local and global market insights in real-time allow farmers and ranchers to quickly compare and select their buyers. In a highly competitive market, even a few seconds can make a big difference in sealing the most competitive deal, so having access to premium broadband – the highest standard for internet speed – is crucial.

DCN’s owners provide farmers and ranchers this level of connection by bringing fiber to their homes.

Barn Surveillance Barn surveillance has revolutionized calving season for many ranchers, giving them the ability to check on livestock without making routine visits to the barn. This technology has been credited with helping save calves’ lives, enhancing their yield while simultaneously saving time.

Barn surveillance cameras can use a Wi-Fi connection, depending on the proximity of the house to the barn. But in some cases, DCN’s owners also have built fiber directly to the barn. If the barn is in a more remote area, the surveillance cameras can use a wireless cellular connection.

IoT The common threads that string machinery and equipment, drones and barn surveillance cameras together is technology, data and connectivity, three words that sum up the purpose of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Currently, farmers are using sensors to monitor grain bin moisture, helping them better manage conditions to reduce spoilage. Ranchers are using RFID tags to track livestock activity, health and overall herd wellness. These are just a couple of examples of IoT, but they demonstrate the granularity of the data farmers and ranchers are collecting as well as the sophistication of agriculture technology and its adopters.

Personal Touch Connectivity also supports the softer side of agricultural businesses: the personal, human side. Having a premium connection at home or on a cell phone allows farmers and ranchers to stay in touch with their friends or families using phone or video calls; it allows them to use telehealth services to visit world-class doctors from their living rooms; it enables them to take continued education or college courses; it gives a spouse the opportunity to work remotely from home or start an online business.

DCN’s 14 Owners include BEK Communications (Steele), Consolidated Telcom (Dickinson), Dakota Central Telecommunications Cooperative (Carrington), Dickey Rural Telephone Cooperative (Ellendale), Midstate Telephone Company (Stanley), MLGC (Enderlin), North Dakota Telephone Company (Devils Lake), Northwest Communications Cooperative (Ray), Polar Communications (Park River), Red River Technologies (Abercrombie), Reservation Telephone Cooperative (Parshall), SRT Communications Inc. (Minot), United Telephone Mutual Aid Corporation (Langdon), West River Telecommunications Cooperative (Hazen).

POLICY

GRAND FARM

has come to agriculture for hundreds of years. We went from people poking sticks in the ground to having animals pull equipment. Then you had the steam tractor and then a diesel tractor. You have had this progression of technological innovation from day one in farming.

When I was in the governor's office, we were starting to see auto steer. It was infrared auto steer. GPS capacity wasn't accurate enough to do it, but you could put a laser down your field and run a tractor down there for straight lines.

My father-in-law was known for his straight rows, but he did it by steering. His son now

gets auto steer out on the farm and you're not making straight rows anymore. You're sitting in the cab while the tractor is running straight and you're trading future deliveries with your broker or with your elevator while you're sitting there.

You were at Amity Technology, think about how the change from seeding, which is plowing a row in the round, a furrow and dropping seeds in it versus the air seeder, which they developed with the Concord to be precisely putting seeds in. You get better growth. That's automation and that has been from

day one. Technology has been an ongoing event and an ongoing motivation in agriculture from as far back as you could think. When I was there, I thought, "This infrared auto-steer is the wave of the future."

I get to Washington, DC a few years later and it's all GPS steering. There's been a constant trail of motivation in technology in the agriculture sector and it's exciting people and becoming really important because we are seeing decreased yields around the world because we have less tillable land for industrialization and poorer water management.

The growing conditions are getting worse. We have a growing population. We need to increase our nutrition in our food production.

We’re going to do it through mechanization.

Q: With automation, the first thing I'm sure most people think of is, "There goes my job. I'm being replaced." Looking under the guise that one of North Dakota's biggest problems is workforce shortage, tell us why automation actually might not be a bad thing for the average person in the state.

A: I think society has always been shaped by new

POLICY

GRAND FARM

You will not expect me to say this, but I'm excited about the opportunity in rural America. Sixty million people live in rural America and more people want to live in rural America."

technology. When I was in high school and computers were coming, it was like, “We're all going to lose our jobs.� Then we go to a paperless society and everybody's like, "How are we going to manage that?"

We always have this constant change and change is hard and difficult. We see a large expansion of geography with a low population having autonomous vehicles to be able to produce.

The difficulty is the closing of your small town. We have seen, public policy say "We're going to have Conservation Reserve Program," and one ramification is farmers can head off to Arizona with a big

bank account and get paid not to farm. Small communities died and you didn't have farm workers. As we have consolidated acreage, you don't have as many farm workers. We've been on this constant march to be able to produce more with less. As we produce more with less, automation's the next step.

The biggest thing that we have to face from a social and cultural standpoint is that we have to figure out how to create value to human beings who aren't going to have the kind of jobs that we have today or that we think we should have. It's going to change.

POLICY

GRAND FARM

North Dakota is often times in the position of leading because we can. We have Independentminded folks here that like to strike out on their own and they invent new equipment and look at new products and have new ideas for processing.

People come here to see it."

As it changes, more production is going to be done not only by technology but by artificial intelligence.

As that changes, jobs are going to be different and we need to make sure that we keep generating a society of acceptance and understanding and use of that new technology instead of just saying, "Oh my gosh, I'm not going to have a job.

It's going to be awful." We can create value in human beings productivity in ways that are totally different from the way it is now.

Q: I want to go back to something that you said in there about small towns.

Obviously, the population has been decreasing more and more and as the trend becomes more automated, there go all the other industries and the workers for other jobs in small

192

MAY 2019

towns. Can you talk about what you think will happen to North Dakota's rural communities as we go down the road?

A: You will not expect me to say this, but I'm excited about the opportunity in rural America. Sixty million people live in rural America and more people want to live in rural America. If you look at the crime rates on the coasts and the environment crumbling on the coast, people are focusing on the Midwest and want to live here. We always get rated as the best place to live, raise your family and all those kinds of things. That comes because of a culture that's developed in our society of hard work, honesty and caring for your neighbor and lending a helping hand. What happens as we increase technology, you need a broadband capacity to run the automation. With

the broadband capacity in the rural area comes the opportunity for lifestyle choices.

When I talk to students and go around North Dakota, I ask, "What are you going to do?" "Well, I'm leaving."

Why are they leaving? They want the bright lights of Broadway. They want to go to a professional baseball game. They want to hear an orchestra. They want lifestyle choices that we don't have.

Tomorrow, lifestyle choices are going to be delivered in the parking lot of the Ashley, North Dakota’s High School where you're going to be able to listen to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in computer-generated images in hologram delivery and not tell the difference. Then you don't have to move to New York to get the bright lights.

Then you can live here in an honest, caring neighborhood.

You can stay here where it's crime-free and happy. You don't have to deal with the rest of it. I'm excited about the future of North Dakota. I'm excited about the future of rural America because I think technology's going to take us

to a place where people want to be.

Q: With this automation, there are going to be high tech and skilled labor jobs. When it comes to education, I look at other organizations like Prime Digital Academy, which is a 20-week coding intensive program.

Talk about how higher education and the role it plays along with the different opportunities that are coming out for education.

A: I'm real big on using experience tied together with education to move the economy forward. I think in this case, the role of higher ed., in my opinion, is to enhance human experience with educational opportunities. I teach a leadership class and the first thing I tell my class is you can't teach leadership. It’s not a teachable skill.

What I can do in this class is we can help you learn how to reach down inside yourself and discover your own leadership skills and

then we can teach you how to enhance those skills so that you can apply them to the management position of your agribusiness, starting your own business or whatever. It's skill development. You can teach skill development in welding, metal bending or application of ability.

The reason that I ran for the governor's office is because I came out of the business community and I said, "I have skills that I've developed in the business community: budgeting, management, administration. I think they're transferable to the public sector and I think if I apply those skills in the public sector, I can make things better. I think the higher education system is to discover skills in people and enhance those skills to apply them in the marketplace.

Q: What message would you want to tell to that audience about Grant Farm and what would be your call to action to them to get involved?

A: In North Dakota and the Red River Valley, agriculture operations have led the way

globally for food safety, food production, distribution and storage systems. If you look at it, Midwest farm operations have led the way. Our exports to the world have not been food. Our exports to the world have been methods, ability and advances in equipment. What we're dealing with here with the Grand Farm is we're again on the forefront that will lead the world in new production methods, yield increases, water management and environmental management.

Grand Farm is going to be this little 40-acre piece, but it's going to add tentacles all over the place, saying, "What do you think? How does it work? How does it affect your community?" I mean all those things are going to come into play with this little 40-acre plot.

My message to agriculture today is, "We don't know where it's going to go but it's important that we advance the science of tomorrow in agriculture. And we can all be a part of it."

POLICY

GRAND FARM

What Some Of The Most Important People In The Country

THINK ABOUT GRAND FARM

W

hat more can be said about the Grand Farm? Nearly every one of the major ag tech innovators is behind it. It's got the backing of some of the most important people in the state. From billion-dollar international corporate entities to the state government's most important politicians to the most important businessmen and women, almost everyone is behind Grand Farm.

Oh, did we mention that list also includes the U.S. government?

Last month, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue came to the Grand Farm unveiling. Thanks to the invite from Senator Hoeven, Perdue came to talk about how North Dakota is leading the way for the future of agriculture.

Governor Doug Burgum "Where Greg started out today is about how technology can improve the human condition. That’s not just something in the future. That’s today. It’s happening right now. There have been over a billion people who have been lifted out of poverty in the last 20 years because of free markets and technology. Greg talked about the challenge of feeding an increased population in the future, the diets of these people in the world are better than they ever have been. Calorie consumption is up to the highest levels it has been and part of that is because America produces more food than we can consume and we export it all over the world.

"Yet, we’re at a spot right now in the United States that’s a unique thing.

We have more jobs open in America than we have people looking for jobs. Agriculture in the last 100 years has become one of the most productive sectors in the world. The amount of people involved to produce food has gone down and down because of the increase in productivity. We can’t stop where we are. We have to get even better.

The concept around Grand Farm is really important, not just for entrepreneurs, but they’re important for actually feeding the planet."

194

MAY 2019

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue "Our motto at USDA now is to do right and feed everyone. What can be a more noble cause than feeding everyone? You talked about what the challenge will be with fewer people to feed everyone over the next however many number of years. This is what it’s going to take to do this.

"I like to refer to what’s happening here as the digitalization of agriculture. The best farmers always had this algorithm sitting on our shoulders. They did it in an almost analog way.

"Farming has been with us forever but the changes have been dramatic and will be even more exponentially dramatic in the future. It will take technology, just like we’re talking about today, to lead the way and do that.

"I love the fact that agriculture says, ‘What if? Why not?’ Many people say, 'We can’t do that.’ This is a group of people here with the sponsors, your leadership from Senator Hoeven and Cramer and Governor Burgum and certainly the private entrepreneurs and this community to say, ‘Why not do this?'

"What can be more noble than producing feed for a growing hungry world? Norman Borlaug did it generations ago and it’s going to take the same kind of dedication and compassion to really make that human condition more equal around the world. This is what will happen right here.

"This day can be remembered as an important moment in how we can do things, sustainably, more efficiently and with a better outcome.

Thank you all for letting me come here."

POLICY

GRAND FARM

DAILY PER CAPITA SUPPLY OF CALORIES 3,500 kcal

3,000 kcal

2,500 kcal

2,000 kcal

1,500 kcal

North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer "It’s not surprising that we see this happening again here. Just know that in this new role I’m in, I look forward to doing whatever I can and my team as well along with Senator Hoeven whose vision started a lot of this really in government and helping build this foundation and now allows you all to do what you do so well and that is feed a hungry world on the same number of acres."

1,000 kcal

500 kcal

0 kcal

1705

1750

1800

Calories Per Person

Michelle Kommer, North Dakota Department of Commerce Commissioner "My mom grew up on a farm about an hour and a half southwest from here. She told me this story of when she would get up in the morning and my grandpa would come inside and all you’d see was his eyes because he was black from the dirt from the field from an open-cab tractor.

"We’re standing here today to celebrate a really different kind of farming and I’m so excited about that. I’m so excited for the state of North Dakota. As Greg said, Grand Farm is good for the state and the state is good for Grand Farm."

196

MAY 2019

As you'll see in this chart from Ourworldindata.com with information from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the number of calories consumed in developed countries has been going up every year.

It depends on the age and activity level, but the average amount of calories consumed should be about 2,000 Kcal per day. As people consume more calories, this puts a strain on the agricultural system as it means that not only are there more people to feed, but people are eating more.

United States Italy France China

1850

1900

1950

2013

North Dakota Senator John Hoeven "We are talking about the jobs and the economy and about bringing our two biggest industries in ag and energy together in new and innovative ways with tech entrepreneurship from small companies to the very largest companies like John Deere and everything in between.

"One final point, we were talking about the importance of trade.

We’re working on something right now in terms of a soybean crush facility that could replace a lot of the $1.5 billion worth of soybeans that we send to China every year. Now we control our destiny and that’s agriculture and we’d send the oil over to a refinery out west of Dickinson, which is part of our oil and gas operation. Now we combine oil, ag and technology and we control our destiny. We don’t have to worry about if somebody else is going to buy our product or not.

"That’s why this is so important. We have to have that vision. Nothing just happens. We make it happen. We can compete with anyone, anywhere at any time. That’s what this is about."

WHY A

Strong Downtown

IS GOOD FOR A CITY’S BUSINESS COMMUNITY

A

strong downtown business community concentrates talent, culture, art and innovation in a way that can turn a walk down the sidewalk into an unexpected exchange of ideas.

Downtown and Main Street businesses tend to support each other and reinvest in a big way into their communities. Early development patterns that dominate downtowns – density and lack of parking lots surrounding each building – typically create the most intense uses of land and infrastructure, saving cities money and natural resources.

1. A strong downtown makes your city somewhere people want to live.

Everything we do at Kilbourne Group, a redevelopment firm focused on historic renovation and mixed-use urban infill in downtown Fargo is driven by our belief that vibrant downtowns create smart, healthy cities.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work in an urban environment for nearly two decades. A strong urban core helps the entire community thrive,” says Tim Curoe, CEO of R.D. Offutt Company, which is moving its offices into Block 9 in the heart of downtown Fargo in 2020.

“I see Fargo in that same way.

The downtown has once again become a vibrant center for business, entertainment and social activities, and people are moving there because of that.”

How do others feel a strong downtown propels a city forward?

2. A strong downtown provides culture and

BY Adrienne Olson, Kilbourne Group

200

MAY 2019

lifestyle choices that retain people.

“Downtowns are the soul of a community,” says David Brown, President of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce. In March, Brown visited FargoMoorhead as part of a speaker series from The Arts Partnership about actively supporting the arts in our communities and in our businesses. “If your downtown is dying, you can see the rest of your community probably is too. I’ve never seen a dying downtown that has a vibrant economy and is a vibrant place that people want to live. There’s an economic reason to do all this, but a lot of it is about keeping people.

They want diversity in their choices in where and how to live

Omaha

with urban, suburban and core neighborhoods… We need to be able to provide all those choices if we want to compete for the kind of talent we need.”

Brown points to a moment in time, decades ago, when community leaders came to a crossroads. Were they all in on downtown, or not?

“We needed to agree that the perception of our downtown is really a reflection of the health of our overall community,” Brown continues. “It’s our city’s image and our future. It’s a driving strategy behind our public and private and investments and decisions. Today, it’s natural that large-scale investments are made in downtown Omaha and it’s become a shared

neighborhood we’re all excited about.” What about smaller communities? Can a city realize benefits if their downtown consists of a couple of blocks of Main Street?

3. A strong downtown is your city’s gathering place and where we go to support each other.

“A strong contingent of businesses on any city or town’s main street is absolutely a key part of a healthy and vibrant community. In most small towns, Main Street is where connections are made,” says Jim Murphy, Executive Director of the Traill County Economic Development Commission based in Hillsboro, North Dakota (population 1,600).

“The owners and operators of

Mayville, North Dakota, population 1,800

the Main Street businesses will, no doubt, be the ones asked to help sell raffle tickets for the volunteer fire department’s fundraiser or asked to put a poster up in the window with the 4-H Achievement Days dates for all to see. In many ways, the local hardware store is the center for information dissemination as people stop to chat with the owners (who are often running the store) or each other as they pass each other in the aisle.”

Renewed interest and commitment is leading to a new era of rebuilding and construction in our downtowns.

Through North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum’s Main Street Initiative, we see student groups meeting in towns across the state to get involved in their

own Main Street revitalization.

The city of Hazen, North Dakota, created a Hometown Heroes program to beautify the streets while honoring veterans. Minot invested heavily in reconstructing its Main Street as one way to enhance Minot’s ability to attract new residents and address its workforce shortage. Belfield, Watford City, Jamestown, Binford, Rugby, Garrison and more have been recognized by the Governor’s office for their Main Street revitalization efforts.

Main Street businesses need your support more than ever.

Shopping local and supporting local art gives you a deeper connection to your community, and that’s good for everybody.

FARGOINC.COM

201